A Shining Hero's Dark Desires
by Hero DarkyDark
Summary: Most children grow up wanting to be a hero for a heroic reason, others want to for less socially accepted reasons. Kano Pasufoji wants to be a hero for his unhealthy desire kill villains due to his past. Watch his struggles to befriend others with his fears and see if Izuku along with the rest of Class 1-A can change him radical views on life to reform and become a better person.
1. The Way I Am

**((Hey peeps, so I hope you enjoy this story. Warning, for the first three chapters will be from Kano's POV but past chapter 3 it'll switch to 3rd person. Just because I wanted to spend the first 3 chapters going into the mind of the MC.))**

**A/N: Thank everyone for the support of the series so far, I'm trying to actually create a good OC fic that follows the canon story since I haven't found a good one and I appreciate people both on the discord and other places letting me know I'm doing a good job.**

**DISCLAIMER: Boku no Hero Academia is not owned by me but by Kohei Horikoshi, Bones studio, and Shonen Jump. Please support the official series.**

**Chapter 1**

**The Way I Am**

"_The world is a simple place, it's everything inside that's overly complicated. The world is just the ground, water, air, and the living things that inhabits it. If a person punches another person, to the world it's just violence, nothing more or else. Things are born through one method, they eventually die through another, and sometimes those creatures create new inventions to change the way of their life. The concept is something a mere child can comprehend, until we start taking in what inside these simple constructs of life. _

_Inside the ground is minerals and different kind of elements which can be mixed together for the endless possibilities to create instruments of life. The water is like a cruel goddess that dictates how the earth is going to be molded and is the only reason why life exist. The pinnacle of convolution comes from organism that breath the air, not their organs, those are just meat and blood. It's more accurate to tackle what's inside the brains of humanity, the creation we call society and everything that comes with it. It's there where a single punch can change the world and set the course of history. _

_That's why the creation of Heroes to counteract Villain's is important, they keep people safe the best way they can. But what if their best isn't enough, as much as it hurts to say but Heroes are no different from Villains to the curse of being human. There's only so much the current number of Pro Heros can do, causing a priority of interest to form. Certain acts that shouldn't be ignored are to save time and resources for bigger offenses. It's tragic, because it's the minor crimes that could truly ruin a life and it's ignored because they're the ones with wounds that don't show or the victims can't scream loud enough where people can't look away. _

_It's disgusting, not the people that allow these acts but the ones who actually commits them. Officially they're not called out as it but they're villains, sure some do worse than others and for such their punishment can be lighter. But the ones that truly deserve to be smite with absolute force are the people that directly try to ruin another's life. Villains like them, deserve nothing but to die to the cold metal blade of-"_

"Ok Kano that's enough of that!" Mei Hatsume blurts out, she took a moment to look away from her latest 'baby' invention to look at the monologuing male that was laying on her couch. Correction, she said that to me who was laying on the couch in her home workshop.

This is probably the best time to introduce myself, I know I'm usually terrible with introductions when I get into the heat of things. So, my name is Kano Pasufōji. Though people usually say and spell my last name as Pasufoji cause no one can tell if the 'ō' have any impact in the name compared to just a regular 'o'. Not that it matters, nearly everyone I know calls me Ken. Barely anyone ever uses my real first name anymore, one being the pink haired girl in front of me whose workshop I'm currently occupying.

It wasn't truly a proper workshop, the better analogy is that we were in Mei's garage that she managed to convince her parents to redesigned to look like a workshop. It makes sense why, with the talent their daughter has in mechanics and the potential she could achieve, sacrificing a garage was a small price to pay. They should be grateful they even had a garage to give up.

"What? Too much?" I replied after hearing her pleas, setting the stack of papers I was reading down on the coffee table in front of me. It gave me a chance to look at my hands, my extremely pale, skinny hands. They always look extra ghastly when they're under light and even worse when under actual sunlight. As I sat up in my seat my messy ash white hair droop down over my eyes.

As Mei lifted up her blue tinted goggles from over her eyes she would tell me, "Yeah, it's super dark and stuff."

"I knew it!" I shouted, slamming my hand on the table. I've been at this for hours yet it always ended with the same result, at this point all I could do was hang my head in shame, "It's too edgy, it's always too edgy!"

"Why do you even need to do that?" Mei asked me, meaning that this version must've been unbelievably bad.

Usually Mei never truly questioned any of the topic I bring up when we hang out like this, it usually goes that as she'll work on whatever wacky invention she's creating this week, and I can just talk to her about whatever is on my mind. She usually don't add too much to the overall conversation from a psychological perspective, but having someone to discuss these things with always helps, and sometimes her inputs could surprisingly be insightful.

I sighed as I had to her remind her of this again, "Because I got only a few months left before I start attending the UA hero course and I wanna make sure I can talk about what I believe in properly."

It's not a huge request, I just want to express myself to other people. The only issue is that fully expressing myself will require people to completely understand how I'm feeling without creeping them out first and my mindset isn't exactly all sunshine. It'll be extremely easy for one to mistake my ideals and take it the wrong way.

"You should keep working on it then," Mei told me as she crossed her arms, "It really bummed me out of working…...never mind it's back!" She happily cheered as she swung her chair back to her workstation.

I couldn't help sigh as I facepalm, not from Mei's quick dismissal to the depressing nature of my weird mindset for her work that's normal, in fact that's one of the reasons we manage to be friends for so long.

I was more exhausted on how no matter how much I rework this pamphlet of my thoughts it always gives off the wrong kind of vibe, "I just don't want to come off as weird."

"Then it might not be your smartest move to use a dozen page manifesto as a conversation guide."

"Hey it's 13 page!"

"...Isn't it a baker's dozen then."

"...Back on subject, I need something to make sure I can clearly explain my thoughts so I don't accidentally say something in front of people I'll regret." Ken explained.

I wanted an avoidance of his middle school days, it turned to complete disaster within a month. Everything was going pretty well at the beginning when he mostly kept to himself and didn't say anything unnecessary to a conversation.

That was until the fateful day someone said something about a certain pro hero that completely set me off into a… less than subtle spew of words. While eventually I managed to make everyone take that rant as a more purposely exaggerated moment then serious, my reputation never truly recovered and I had to spend the rest of my time there getting teased for it. That's not even compensating for the amount of people treating me differently or avoided me because they thought I was really weird, some people just didn't let it go.

"You worry too much Kano," Mei says, tightening the final screw on her latest invention, "That's probably your issue, stop worrying about people understanding you and just talk to them."

It was solid advice that I'll even give to others, but I felt like it didn't work in this situation. I let out another sigh as I said, "If only that was a viable option."

I really wish it was, because it would make my life a lot easier. Sadly I have to put in more effort than others to convince others that I am normal enough to talk to. While my Albino appearance isn't such a draw of attention on a wide scale thanks to the existence of mutation quirks, that doesn't mean some people aren't still chilled from my appearance at times for another reason. I almost got mistaken as a villain once because someone thought I looked like a evil-looking vampire, in their defense I do have abnormally sharp canines and was walking around late at night.

This also doesn't help the fact that I'm known for being moody, which I'll dispel now isn't true. People usually take me no reacting or smiling a lot as me being moody about everything, it's completely unfair. This is why expressing yourself is important!

As Mei stroll her chair over toward me she would say, "Being myself always seem to work for me."

"Oh my dear Mei," I would solemnly mumble shaking my head, "Sadly I can get anxiety when I'm in front of too many people and like the paradox that is existence I need friends to communicate with, unlike you who can survive being cooped up in this place alone forever."

By the time I stopped she had popped up right in front of my face, with her usual bright, cheery, and in some situations uncomfortable smile she would state, "I'm not always alone, I got a friend who's always keeping me company here," she would point one of her fingers toward me, "And that's you."

The gesture was enough to make me lightly slap both sides of her head, sandwiching her face between my hands. She looked a bit surprised when she saw I was glaring down at her, scolding her to set the record straight, "That's because it's so damn hard to get you to leave this place and it's not like I have much of an alternative then hanging out with you!"

Despite having her face being smushed Mei still manage to find a way to speak, "You say that but we've been doing this for years, even when you started dating that mermaid girl."

…

With a look of sadness I would look away, she just had to bring back memories that are now bitter.

"Actually, we broke up," I muttered under my breath.

Mei looked quite surprise at this revelation.

"Wait since when?" she would ask.

"I told you this almost half a year ago, it after the...summer incident."

"I thought that was why you broke up with that with that ghost looking girl, y'know the one who can move objects with like her mind?"

"No you're thinking of the wrong one and we broke up because of the beach incident not summer."

"...Oh yeah, I remember you mentioning something like that."

"Well, it's nice to know you attempt to keep up with all the stories I tell you."

"Of course, they make great background noise and gives me plenty of ideas on what to make to prevent people from going through what you do."

"...You're the salt of my life Mei," I sighed as I finally let go of her face, "Needed to make things enjoyable but is unhealthy in surplus."

"On the subject of needing," Mei will tell me, drawing my attention to the table, "I need you to do your thing."

Looking down at the table I saw that she set down her latest baby, it was a special steampunk designed goggles. The only flaw was that the entire thing was completely devoid of color, which is where I come in.

As I lay my hands overs it I would ask her, "What color do you want it?"

After Mei took some to think she would suggest, "How about the color blue?

I concentrated for a bit, taking a deep breath as I mentally imagine aligning everything into the pattern I wanted. The entire process took less than a moment, the grey metal of the goggle was now a dark shade of blue. This was all thanks to my quirk,

**Name: Kano Pasufoji(Prefers the Name Ken)**

**Quirk: Radiant Rune - The user's body is constantly absorbing light particles into his body. This also allows him to utilize any of the light that he already had stored or comes in contact with in a variety of ways.**

**Too much light stored up at once can cause severe aggravation or nausea. Artificial light that comes from light bulbs usually just aggravate him and is ineffective in absorbing light from it.**

**Fun Fact: When he's low on light his eye color is usually dull grey but when he stores enough their color slowly changes to a bright yellow.**

All this was is me changing how light is reflecting off the object, making people perceive the object differently.

It's quite embarrassing that this was the first thing I could do that can be considered a technique. It took way too long for me to learn essentially a cheap party trick and even longer to learn how to arrange light particles to visually change a color. That's not even mention learning all the different colors and applying that ability to another object. I have a perplexing fear that someone will laugh their asses off if they ever found out how long it took me just to be able to do that.

Except for Mei, she didn't really care since this ability of mine was extremely useful for her design wise for all her inventions. It saves her a lot of paint and time to just have him show her what color scheme her babies looks the best in.

"What's with the new goggles anyways? Don't you already have goggles?" I asked her after showing the results.

"These were only temporary since they got the job done, try green," She told me, "I need better ones before I start in the UA Support Class. Try black. This one will have all the proper bells and whistles as the last one did if someone didn't break them."

"That was your fault for shilling at my birthday party!" I shouted at her, no matter how many times she tried to make me feel guilty about it, I to this day have no regrets, "That reminds me, you better not try to shill your stuff to my hero friends. I suggest white."

"It wasn't like I was selling them a bad product and you could've asked me to stop in a less violent way. Hmm Orange."

"You were trying to sell an automatic confetti cleaner."

"Yeah you know how useful that'll be for after-party clean-ups?"

"It's at best a less maintenance Vacuum cleaner and at worst a discount Roomba."

"See, you just admitted it has a place in the world!"

For some reason that comment gave me a sense of defeat, so I flick one of her cheeks to satisfy my pride. I watch her jolt back from pain letting out a tiny yelp, she looked annoyed as she held her cheek from the stinging pain.

"New rule, you're going to feel pain every time you do somethings stupid in front of me."

"That's extremely unnecessary!" She shouts, "Also try purple."

"I say pink will work better, and I'm just doing whatever I must so you don't embarrass both of us once we start in UA."

"You keep saying that as if it's officially we're both going to that school, but you haven't even taken the entrance exam yet, so how are you so sure you're going to pass it."

"..."

I didn't answer as a wave of anxiety wash over me.

"Kano?"

"Oh god I'm so screwed!" I declared loudly, hanging my head low, "I just realized how under prepared I am, I've learned nothing useful that'll help with the test!"

"I thought you had that guy who mentored you for a couple of years?"

She wasn't wrong, I haven't technically been trained by someone for a few years now but there was an issue.

"I mean yeah, he helped me learn some athletes and martial arts but that's standard for anyone trying to be a hero! He just kept making me repeat exercise that focus on the basic use of my quirk!"

I couldn't believe I forgot to actually prepare for the hero exam, the most important part. It doesn't matter how long I've been training for with who, what, and where. If I can't pass the entrance exam, the path I have plan is over for me! Yet despite my years of training all I have to show for it are a couple of petty tricks, what are they gonna do in a world where people can bust buildings with their fists. It wasn't that long ago where a news report of how this slime villain caused a near unstoppable havoc that took multiple heroes including All Might to stop.

Before I mentally drew myself insane Mei spoke up, showing a very caring act by brushing some of my messy white hair aside from my eyes. As she spoke she gave me one of her usual wide smile, "You really worry too much, just because your time invested don't show immediate results doesn't mean the effort you put in was for nothing."

This was honestly one of the few surprisingly moments when Mei was insightful to my situation, I could feel my spirits lifting up from her words. The feeling of someone, anyone close to me believing in me, it gives me hope for my future. As if I'm not always alone in this world so-

"Oh my god red would totally work for this, do red!" She shouted.

And there goes my inspirational moment.

"Yes, I knew it! Red completely fits this baby, thanks for the help!" Mei cheered, at this point I wasn't surprised how quick she forgot how she was comforting me about my situation.

I couldn't blame her though, retroactively I knew how silly I was being. I mean I'm freaking out that at age 14 I don't have the ability to blow up a building like a Top 10 hero could. So much to the fact that I undermine the time someone invested in me just to help me learn to do something with a quirk I thought was absolutely worthless. A curse even, yet he helped to the point where I can believably imagine that I might have a semblance of a chance to fulfill my goal.

As I acknowledge her gratitude I would notice I got a text message, looking at my phone I was now relieved to see who it was. It was my mentor.

"Alright, Imma head out," I would announce as I stood up from the couch, taking a moment to stretch my lanky limbs.

"Leaving already?" Mei questioned tilting her head.

Shaking off all the cranks in my arms I would tell her, "Yeah, got some things to do. See ya," With a wave I begin walking out, "Remember to actually get that thing spray painted, my trick can only change its color for a few minutes."

Mei yells out, "It's not a thing, it's my baby!"

Classic of her.

Before I reach the door I hear her call out to me one more time, "And Kano, you got a few months, just remind yourself of what your goal is and you can steer yourself in that direction."

I turned around, letting her see my smile as I said, "Thank you," before I exited.

I wasn't sure how productive being there actually was for me but that's just the strange friendship I have with Mei is at this point. It did bring up two important points that made me think, the first was the fact that I do have months to learn new skills before the entrance test so I could just talk to my mentor about it.

The second was to remind myself what my goal is.

As I walk down the streets under the night sky to meet at the location my mentor told me to go to, I couldn't help but be grateful. It's the only time of the day I can walk outside without a hoodie, it felt nice not having to wear clothes out of obligation or else face throwing up in public. It's not perfect, the cool breeze sometimes cause shivers to my sensitive skin, but it was still better than the alternative.

I have a very personal relationship with the night which is ironic considering my quirk. I just prefer the night and care deeply for everything that happens during it.

Oh god it's going to be so hard convincing people I'm not some over the top edgy guy.

In all honestly I should give up on fully expressing myself to others and stick with just acting regular around other people. I will be going...well I will be attempting to get into a school where everyone is trying to be a hero for some glorious or not so glorious reason.

Compare them to me, someone who wants to be a hero for a reason that'll definitely not go over well with the school's board if they ever find out. It's the entire reason why I'm so cautious with what I say around others because my thought process is already a bit radical and don't want to make it worse for myself.

It's a hero's job to stop villains and usually to any extent necessary. So while it's not usually the way society sees it or the option heroes take, heroes technically have a license to kill villains.

I just want to take advantage of that privilege.

I'm someone who wants to be a hero so I can kill those villains.

**To Be Continue**

**((Not sure if this is how you expected the story to go, but it's going to take a bit to truly get into Kano and his desire to kill people through killing villains. Anyways hope you enjoy, leave a follow if you enjoyed it and tell me what you thought with a review.))**


	2. Making My First Step

**DISCLAIMER: Boku no Hero Academia is not owned by me but by Kohei Horikoshi, Bones studio, and Shonen Jump. Please support the official series.**

**Chapter 2**

**Making My First Step**

_The Reason I Am Part 1_

'_My head was spinning, stomach feeling a bit queasy, and I could feel my body shaking to the bone. I was in a state of disbelief, this all felt so wrong. The pain has stopped way sooner than it should've, did they get bored, tired, and even have a chain of heart. No...no that's an impossibility, if those kids were capable to have that amount of spontaneous sympathy then they never would've put me in this situation. They never would've done what they did to me and then repeat it as many times as they did. It must've been something else._

_The scraps and bruises on my arms stung horribly, making it an easy decision to lower my arms to see what's in front of me. It was a little hard to see from the mix of the bright light from the sun getting into my eye, dizziness in my head from the event that was happening earlier, and nausea from my quirk's backlash effect from being out during the day for too long without cover. Soon the blurriness in my vision faded away and what I saw was a sight I will never forget._

_It was of a man in a red steampunk trench coat standing strong in front of me, at the time he couldn't see his face as the man's back was turned toward him but it didn't matter. Just seeing him there, his black curly hair flowing in the wind, and being able to stand with such confidence in the sun inspired him in a way he hadn't felt in years. He may not have known why that man stepped in when he did, but his actions imprinted a life lesson that he has not forgotten. _

_Only those who can stand strong and act will be able to do anything.'_

_End of Part 1._

I rushed over to the alleyway I was directed to go to, excited to finally see him again. My mentor sometimes disappears, with the time frames of his absence spanning from a few days to months. During those moments he's only virtually gone because time by time he'll send a text to update me if he's going to be in town or for me to do a training exercise. Sometimes he'll even answer a call or text of mine if he isn't too busy. On this occasion he has been gone for a little over a month, I don't know why but judging from the last conversation I had with him it had something to do with saving a bunch of chickens and dinner.

I love the stories he tells.

After entering the alleyway I slowed down, quietly stepping into the deeper part of the alleyway I would see the familiar trench coat of the man I came here to meet. Despite it's slight tatters and cuts, it still looked as refined as the day I met him.

Before I could get close or say anything to him he spoke causing me to freeze in place, on top of things as usual.

"Greetings Kano, I see you've been practicing." His deep voice kept that smoothing fruity tone.

Scratching the back of my head I replied, "Y-yeah."

As he turned toward me I would see his mask covered face. As usual he did well to hide his face, utilizing a black mask that covered up to the brink of his nose, and a hat to keep his hair in check.

"I hope you haven't deny your other training?" He would state, I can see his purple eyes glaring down at me.

"No, master."

"What?"

"I mean, no Free!" I quickly corrected myself quick, forgot how he doesn't like referred to as master or mentor. I usually just use the term as an alias whenever I refer to him to someone else.

He would stare at me for a while, making me feel a bit uncomfortable as if I might've offend him, but instead he set down two packages for me.

"Get dress, meet me on roof." He tells me.

It was a strange request, he specifically requested to not bring my usual costume but before I can say anything, in a flash he quickly scaling up the building. He was never one for many words or explanations. My best guess would be that the packages he left would cover the problem at hand.

After opening both package I would have my answer.

The first package was a new costume. It wasn't anything too special, just a black leather costume. The pants felt uncomfortable to get into, the gloves were going to take a while to get used to, but at least the top was a hoodie. I love hoodies, I also enjoyed the red design that was put over the entire costume. If it wasn't going to be comfortable at least it'll look better than my last one which was a makeshift costume of things I tossed together.

Though it does nothing with making people think I'm not edgy. Oh well, I don't have to worry about public image when I'm in this.

The second package was a boxed meal, specifically a chicken & rice dish. On the side was a yellow and green pill alongside a bag of apple slices.

I knew what these were for.

Well, the full meal was probably him being nice after not seeing each other for a while. It's usually something lighter.

Regardless, I took the pills, ate the meal, got dressed, pocketed the apples, and climb up the side of the building to meet with my mentor.

As expected he was sitting there waiting for me, his eyes were focused on staring at the city in front of us.

"You can do your stretches now, I'm doing a bit of catching up." He told me before he pulled out a little black book and began writing in it.

As instructed I did the stretches he told me to practice, they're mostly to just loosen up my body. The silence between us felt off despite this being a slight reunion, so I decide to break it with a little chatter.

"You know you forgot to give me water?" I asked him

He didn't turn his head away from the city for a second as he responded, "My apologies, when I received it from the farmer I was so graceful that I forgot to check if it had anything to drink before I gave it to you."

"I mean, it's not that big of a deal, it's just going to be harder to digest everything without a drink."

"I see, my sorrows are quelled."

…

"So what was it this time."

"Some traffickers were forcing a chicken farmer to comply with their business."

"Are you serious? Why a chicken farmer?"

"Something about drugging the chickens to create a special case of eggs...the chickens are safe now."

"So that tip actually bore fruitful?"

"Most conspiracies are based off some form of truth."

"Well I know if that note was sent to the authorities they would've never looked into it."

"I disagree, they would've eventually."

"They would've picked up on a cry for help that was tattooed in morse code onto a chicken's neck?"

"It would've taken them a few weeks at most."

"Maybe if they took it seriously."

"They're in a position where they're swamped in work, making it hard to invest in all the problems, especially the seemingly less important and cryptic ones. I'm just covering the ones that slip through the holes."

"Well I guess that's the benefit of being a Vigilante."

"...Yeah."

This is probably a good time to say my mentor isn't an official pro-hero, he's a vigilante. Someone who acts in the name of justice against villains but against the law. His name is Free Destin, no idea what his real name is as he never told me it, he's real careful about his identity, especially when we're doing these things.

That's why he makes me take those pills, the yellow one's job is to mess with my sweat glands, making it so my sweat smells differently. This throws off all scent based tracking methods, this came real useful when we walked by this one dog quirked cop who invested a scene we were the night before. He couldn't recognize our scent from the scene and I was extremely relieve the first time it happened. The green one makes it hard to track our blood, I don't know how it does that or where he even got these pills because he refuses to tell me.

As I finish my stretches I would ask, "This is why I prefer being a vigilante, you don't get weighted down by stupid bullshit."

"We're going for a run." Free told me, before he began making his way across the rooftop and leaping to another one.

Sighing as he did his usual thing of acting and telling me to do something before fully addressing all my concerns or thoughts. But I'm used to that sort of seclusive nature of his, the line of business and how deep he's in do require him to treat this much more seriously than most heroes do their entire lives. That's the reason I understand why during his time of absence he would go dark for extended periods of time, he might be in a situation where it's not safe to disclose or contact someone. It's usually during those times I stop my vigilante side-kick shenanigans and just stick to my usual body and quirk training routine.

As I chase behind him I had time to think, mostly about the conversation I had with Mei and the independent entrance exam of UA. Just thinking about it gave my stomach butterflies, I've heard how certain people didn't even make it in the hero course just because their quirk wasn't right for the entrance exam. That did nothing to boost my confidence in passing.

I finally caught up to him, or at least enough for him to be within earshot of me without having to shout so loud that people on the streets can hear us.

I called out, "This is the life, we're taking out villains on sight instead of letting them log around. I don't see why I can't just become a full fledged Vigilante right now?"

"One must actually experience the light so they know what it is, that way they can truly fight for it." Free told me in his monotone voice.

I was expecting that answer, in truth becoming a hero wasn't on my original plan for life. A vigilante wasn't part of the original plan either but it quickly became one of the more important parts of it. But through enough persuasion Free got me to consider going through a Hero Course first, or more accurately he threatened to stop training me if I don't attend a hero course.

The agreement was that I had to get into a hero course and actually try my hardest to graduate. If after all that I still decide to be a vigilante, he won't stop me. The decision that I had to try my hand at UA was Free's way of making sure I didn't try to cheat my way through by going for an easier school.

If I do manage to get through it all and get a heroes license it wouldn't be too bad, that'll actually make my goal a lot easier.

With a heroes licence, no one would really look twice if I kill a villain. As a necessary of course, like to civilians or having my hand forced.

That was probably why I agreed to the deal so quickly once I was told that possible benefit, the other benefits such as proper training and actively knowing what I have to fit is fine as well.

I wish I didn't have to cause that'll mean I have to try to befriend a whole new set of people and I'm terrible at that. 14 years of life with all i got to show for it is one eccentric friend and failed relationships. I don't want to go through that entire process again, it was already hard enough to live through it the first time.

In true a good part to blame is my appearance, aside from my pale skin and monotone face look, I know people have had issues with my eyes as well. The inward-tilting set of eyes I have along with bags and relaxing squinting face doesn't mix well with making new friends. Most people think I'm staring at them as if I'm planning on murdering them one day, which is true if they're a villain but not kids in school. I wish I could do something to get rid of my dead looking eyes.

"You seem pretty knowledgeable though, whatever they teach me there you can teach it but better to me." I suggested.

"No." He states in an extremely cold tone.

"It's like homeschooling, it'll probably increase my learn by-"

"Something is wrong isn't it?" He called out.

It's the one thing I both love and fear, how quickly he can catch on to something.

He stopped running on top of rooftops and looked back at me, his eyes seemed to be unfazed but his stare pierced through me. My face basically gave it away.

"Tell me as you work," He says as he looks down onto the street.

Before this confused me by what he meant, but now I get what he was referring to. As I looked down onto the unpopulated street, I see in a less light part of the city a band of thugs vandalizing a close store. He wanted me to talk about my issues as we take them on, a strange method that he usually does. He says that doing that, making sure to properly give alias to all the important names, and fighting will help me learn how to multitask.

As he puts on his black shades, I put my hood over my head before we both went down to deal with them.

The entire confrontation wasn't long, they were mostly quirkless people and sucked at actual fighting. Some of them didn't even make a proper fist. I doubt they were anyone important, they're were probably punks who thought that their sheer numbers would do all the work for that. My mentor took out most of them within a few moments, I only knocked out 4 and that's only because he let me have the last two to properly warm me up against people with quirks. I was extremely slow compared to him but he was the professional, honestly explaining my doubts about passing the entrance exam took longer.

Once we tied up all the thugs and purposely set off the alarm of a nearby shop so the police can come, we quickly dashed out of there.

Later Free lead me to settle down on a rooftop. He gave me a pen, instructing to hold it with my feet and constantly changing its color as a secondary exercise for my quirk.

"I'm just feeling contempt if I'm prepared." I told him, reiterating exactly what was my worries, "Out of the 3 main things I can do with my quirk only one of them is something useful hero-wise and even then it'll barely help with a fight. Not to mention everything else I learned are just bare bones self-defense and athleticism. Will this really be enough to pass the entrance exam of the top hero school?"

"No." He plainly says

I looked in surprise, shuttering, "W-what?"

"I said no, someone in your condition is going to need more techniques if they want to past," He tells me, taking a moment to stretch his neck.

It was here I was going into panic mode, did he just confirm my fears.

"Then, why aren't you teaching me anything new?" I asked him, my voice raising a bit not out of anger but fear. Well, there was a bit of anger since this was his idea yet he just admitted he doesn't believe I have what it takes. Why isn't he teaching me what I need.

"Because you didn't ask, that was the point."

…

"What?" I said in confusion.

As he rose up from where he was sitting, he told me, "So far you've only ask me to be a vigilante or did exactly what I told you to do for training. Why were you waiting for me to motivate you to learn a new technique with your own quirk?"

"Well, you are my mentor."

"Yes I'm your mentor. I'm suppose to train and prepare you to be able to face trails you'll have ahead, not hold your hand through them. I'm not always going to be around for you y'know."

"I know just-"

"You thought I'll give your some kind of starter pack?"

"Y-yeah?"

"I've already done that."

"You did?"

"Yes, all those exercises and quirk training. In a direct fight they're not much but for you they did wonders. They were all exercise meant to help you have complete control over your body."

"But they were all just light workout and stretches."

"Right now as you're focus on another conversation, you've just accurately change the light arrangement on that pen to visually show 30 different colors with your foot."

…

"Holy shit!"

"If you desire a house you gotta build it yourself, but I'll teach you how to use all the tools."

"What?"

"It's your quirk, you create your own techniques to how it works. I'm just teaching you the basics to creating them and utilizing them. I want you to be able to constantly evolve and adapt to whatever situation confronts you. You can't do that if I'm just giving you the answers on a plate."

It was still confusing but, I get the message behind it. I am the body that's going to be doing all the fighting and using the quirk, I should be able to act on my own. This is probably out of worry that I might not be able to get by without him there when he goes dark on solo tasks.

I nod, "Yeah I understand now, I'm going to work hard to-"

"Good," He interrupted, wrapping an arm around my neck and leading me somewhere, "What's your record on the 40 yard dash again?"

I was a bit uncomfortable with the sudden contact as he almost never do it like this, but it soon turned fuzzy as I answered him, "Uh, I remember my average being about 4.9 second but my record was 4.7 second."

"Good, good. Now you gotta break that limit to save a life." My mentor says nonchalantly.

"What!?" I shout surprised.

My master turned my head toward a direction that lead all the way down to the edge of alleyway, I could only see two figures, humans really and they were moving among each other.

"You see those two people?" Free asked

I would nod my head.

"One of them is on drugs robbing the other with a gun."

"What!? We need to stop him he could kill someone."

"He's a few seconds away from it, that's your training now, stop him. You gotta blitz him without giving the guy enough time to process you're there or else he'll kill the girl out of fear."

With that line and no time to object he dropped me off the rooftop.

"The distance is about 80 yards, you'll need the speed to close the distance in 8 seconds after you land to save her life." My mentor advised.

The fall filled me with nothing but panic, not out of fear injuries, no we both knew I could maneuver myself down safely. My insanity grew thinking on how someone else's life was put completely in my hands to save. I looked up to see if Free was going to be some kind of safety switch but no, he was sitting down on the rooftop's edge. I was truly alone in this, he's actually willing to let that woman die for my training.

I almost threw up before landed but manage to hold it in.

As soon as I landed all I could think of is to do was run as fast as I could.

**70 Yards Left, 1.2 Seconds has passed.**

This is madness, this is nothing but pure madness.

**60 Yards Left, 2.45 Seconds has passed.**

'He can't be serious.' I thought to myself, I took another quick glance and see how my master didn't budge. This is not a game, I really need to save this woman. I put in everything I can into running.

**50 Yards Left, 3.625 Seconds has passed.**

I can see the utter fear in that girl's face, "Oh god she's completely terrified, her entire life can be snuffed out right here and now by some lowlife."

**40 Yard Left, 4.8 Seconds has passed.**

"Could I use anything here and throw it at him? No no, if I stop for a second and look for something it could alarm the shooter and he'll kill her. I missed any chance of another option, I have to fast enough to hit him before he noticed I'm charging at him."

**30 Yard Left, 5.975 Seconds has passed.**

"I'm not gonna make it, I can't make it. I can't stop this villain, this slime ball who doesn't care that he's destroying another person's life right now. Not just her but the lives of her family, friends, and loved ones. Someone like that doesn't deserve to be alive, but I can't end him before he ruins another life in front of me."

**20 Yard Left, 7 Seconds has passed.**

It was right at that moment, when I didn't think I had no options left, my mind performed a miracle. I began thinking a lot faster than I usually did, it was like time had slowed yet my mind ran freely. Is this my instincts flaring up, I didn't have time to question it as my mind was on a different subject.

Within the time of a single step, I remembered my quirk training, when changing the color of an object or any of my other tricks, I always had to physically move the light particles to perform them. I could do the same on my own body even, it sometimes felt strange feeling them individually moving around my body. As they moved, some would overlap each other.

Physical Moving Light Particle.

Feeling It On My Body.

Overlapping Each Other.

Physical Moving.

My Body.

Light Particles.

Overlapping.

...

Movement!

These words connect in a strange way that I can barely understand, but my body did. My instincts sparked, I started feeling my legs tighten, building up pressure before they exploded in power as they made contact with the ground.

**10 Yard Left, 7.6 Seconds has passed.**

The robber's head began to turn toward me as if he just heard something.

My legs felt as light as a feather, it was a wonderful feeling of relief, but I didn't savor it.

A life needed to be save and a villain to take out.

Having a better idea on what I just did, I recreated the same feeling in my other leg, building up pressure again. Fueled with a mixed emotion of rage, happiness, adrenaline, and anticipation gave it even more of a boost than the first time.

With a heavy stomp I detonating all that pressure at one, launching myself forward.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

The robber didn't even finish turning his head before my fist collided with his face, sending both me and him off our feet rolling across the street. The only difference between us was, I stuck the landing.

The woman looked as surprised as the robber was before I punched him.

"You don't have to worry miss, I'm here to put an end to him, so you can go home now." I declare to her with confidence.

I should've known better than to expect complete collaboration with a civilian without explanation considering how I look a little young to even be a hero, despite that the lady looked relieved, giving me a nod before running off with her stuff.

Wan't expecting that reaction, thought my face would've set her off in fear or at least creep her out. Out of curiosity I felt my face and discovered something interesting.

I was smiling, not a smirk but I full on smile. When did that happen? I'm guessing that was why she was so calm about some kid coming out of nowhere and decking a robber.

Speaking on taking out the robber, there was an undeniable feeling of satisfaction achieving this new skill. I wanted to cheer but thought it was best to save it for later, doing it here wouldn't be smart before I actually attract a crowd.

As I tried to stand, my legs felt wobbly, everything below my knee felt strain and exhausted, it took me by surprise, causing me to fall over.

"It feels like I just spent hours kicking at a metal pole." I mumble to myself looking down at my legs rubbing them.

That was when I heard something behind me, that was when I saw a rock fly by my head and hit something behind me. Looking back I would see the robber I recently punch nose looking smashed, blood was streaming out of it. I guess he was more durable than I thought.

I looked up on the rooftop to now see Free standing at the edge of the rooftop, he was juggling a few rocks in one hand.

"Not bad, 7.9 seconds." Was all he said, "You just made your first step."

"Yeah but my legs are on fire now," I retorted as I rubbed my leg.

"There's a store nearby, we'll put ice on it," Free told me, "Also I think you smiled."

You couldn't blame me for being happy, I actually felt like I moved up after months of feeling stagnant. Which is why I responded, "Yeah, yes I did."

I just took my first real step toward my goal.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**((Soon Izuku will appear in the story**

**Hope you enjoyed the story, follow it if it interest you and leave a review on what you thought of the chapter.**

_**Also I got a Ko-fi so you can directly support me there, be sure to check out my youtube channel Hero DarkyDark. Also I got a Discord chat, so if you wanna chat or hang out with the community consider joining, code for it is /XunT8bu ))**_


	3. Solidifying My Step

**A/N: Also this is the final chapter that is mainly from Kano's point of view.**

**DISCLAIMER: Boku no Hero Academia is not owned by me but by Kohei Horikoshi, Bones studio, and Shonen Jump. Please support the official series.**

**Chapter 3**

**Solidifying My Step**

_The Reason I Am Part 2_

_Sitting at my desk I had no way to escape, all I could do was cover my head with my arms. My head was hanging in shame, the laughter of the children only grew louder. I'm not sure they knew what they were doing to me, they selfishly thought they were just getting a cheap chuckle out of their torment, but little did they know all it did was sprinkle salt on my wounds._

_This is why I hate people sometimes, they never stop when they're ahead._

_As well as this sun, it's killing me the more I'm under it._

"_Ken you sure you even have a quirk?" I heard one of the kids yell behind their snicker._

_My lungs felt like they were being crushed, it was hard to speak in front of this crowd of people, especially when they're putting me in the hot seat of ridicule._

"_Y-yes, I got it checked out last week." I manage to mumble._

_They already had their answers, yet instead of leaving it there they kept going. They never stop._

"_That's why you miss the rest of school last week?"_

"_Well a last minute check-up is normal for his family."_

"_Then what is it?"_

"_I can't," I told them_

"_You can't?"_

"_I don't know what it is or how to use it." I stated._

_It should stop._

"_That doesn't even make sense, you sure you even went to an actual doctor to get check?"_

"_By the sound of it, you're basically quirkless, maybe even worse."_

"_Kids I think that's enough."_

_A familiar voice manage to pierce through the commotion to reach my ears, "Kano you looking paler than usual, are you ok?."_

_End of Part 2_

Stepping through the front door of my home I would see that the lights weren't on, it was expected since it was past midnight. Not a lot of people are living here now and the one other person who do usually pass out around this time.

I didn't bother turning on the lights, mostly because I didn't need them on. I manage to obtain night vision through the use of my quirk, it was one of the 3...well now 4 techniques I could do with it.

**1\. Visual Surprise** \- Rearranging the light particles on an object he's in contact with or his own body, making people perceive the object as a different color temporary.

**2\. Night Vision** \- Naturally have better vision in the night than most because his eyes can pick up light better than others, but in real dark place he can amplify his vision through numerous methods.

**3\. ?**

**NEW ABILITY: ?** \- Launches himself in a direction.

Speaking of a fourth ability, that reminds me of what I have to think about tonight but can wait till later. Wandering around the living room I expected to see someone there and I was right in believing so. Laying on the couch was a blonde woman, she was fast asleep under the paper that was scattered all over her. The rest of the area was a real mess as well.

A familiar sight.

I brushed aside the paper that was covering her and picked her up in my arms. This seemed to have slightly awakened her as I heard her giving a slight groan. Walking her to her room I decided to see if she was conscious enough to respond.

"Did I wake you?" I asked softly.

The woman twitched a little in my arms but her eyes didn't open, she softly questioned the person holding her "Kano, is that you?

I could smell the alcohol on her breath, it was thick but not as strong as it usually was, guess exhaustion hit her harder than the sauce did tonight. Not sure if that's a good or bad sign.

"Yeah it's me."

"Mmm, I didn't even hear you come in. How are you always so silent?"

I didn't even bother countering her statement with the fact that she was blackout drunk, it didn't matter anyways since she was technically correct.

"I practice a lot."

"Might…" she pauses to yawn, "Might need to...put a bell on you."

"That's extremely unethical to do."

"So is you...so is...so is you being ...uhh."

She's truly zoning out right now, I doubt she'll even remember we had this conversation tomorrow, it's always a 50/50 on these things.

When we arrived in her room I place her in her bed, as I covered her with the blanket I was telling her, "You save it for tomorrow, right now you gotta rest for work in the morning."

Like a child being told to go to school, she clung to one of her pillows and groan in disgust.

"I don't wanna go to work!" She complained, cuddling up to the pillow in hand.

"Well you gotta be responsible somehow," I teased before leaving her to sleep in her room.

Returning to my living room I got to work cleaning up all the papers she left laying around, organizing her so she'll have an easier time finding what she needs tomorrow.

As I work, I finally had to think about what my mentor Free told me before we departed from each other earlier.

"_Don't forget to eat your apple slices and drink water, you're going to need to piss a lot."_

No that's not correct, I meant what he was telling me before that.

"_You've finally create your own technique, now you gotta figure out what it is?" Free had told me while he applied an ice pack to my ankle._

"_Ah~!" Were the only words I could respond with as I felt with agonizing sensation of the chilling ice pressing against my bone-tired legs. My legs were squirming as I mustered as much willpower as I could to keep it still._

"_Stop moving...and making weird noises." He demanded, my twitching was making it hard for him to tie the ice pack to leg._

_I had to hold my leg still with my hands so he can finally get it over it, shaking off the chills I replied, "Sorry Sorry, but what do you mean figure it out."_

"_Your legs are damage right?"_

"_Yeah? Well they're not really damage...I think but they're killing me," I told him as I rub my sore leg._

"_Figure out why it hurts when you know why something causes something else you can figure out a way to avoid it's faults and improve on it."_

"_So I gotta explore what it does?"_

"_Explore it, find out how it's affecting your body, and think of a way to make it more efficient. That's your next assignment, come back to me in a week with an answer."_

I let out a sigh, sitting back on the couch as I ate the apple slices I pocketed before. The ice pack on my leg had mostly melted, luckily most of the exhaustion in my leg was gone. That's one thing to take note of, whatever I did didn't destroy my leg, that would suck if the first technique I ever did break my bones. The muscles were extremely sore even though I rested for over two hours before going home, I don't think that's natural if what I did was just some physical exertion.

"Oh shit I gotta piss," I said to myself, quickly making my way over to the bathroom.

My mind boggled itself trying to find out what I can use, while the ability really came in clutch when I needed it, I forgot the line of thought that lead to it. I can still do it out of instinct without issue but it's really difficult to figure out how it works without any proper equipment. Well I could record it the next time I try using it, and next properly name the technique. I'm not sure visually looking at it would be enough to complete the task, at best it'll just let me know what happens but not how.

Deciding to take a breath from thinking I focused on the task at hand. I watch as my body expel a green liquid and chuckled, I gotta make a mental note to never piss in front of someone after I do vigilante stuff.

Whatever are in those pills they turn my pee green, I gotta flush them out quickly at least twice or else it will make someone think I need a hospital trip if they see it.

…

Hospital!

**The Next Day**

"KANO WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Mei shouted at me in a panic, rushing to grab my arm and hold me back from performing what I was about to do.

I was currently in her workshop and one of my hands was extremely close to the blade of a running buzzsaw.

"I'm trying to get sent to the hospital," I casually told her as if this was normal.

"By dicing your entire hand!?" Mei yelled, this feels weird since I'm the one who usually lectures her about safety when he blow stuff up.

This may look hypocritical but at least I'm purposely trying to send someone to the hospital, it just has to be me.

I tried to calm her down, "I'm only gonna buzz off my pinkie, hospitals can easily stitch it up, and if I do it quick enough I might not be able to feel the pain."

She really wasn't trusting me as she continued dragging it me further away from all her tools, "Why do you want to go to the hospital so bad!?"

An understanding of the situation could make her go along with it, "I need to get myself a check-up," I explained to her.

"Then why don't you just go to the hospital and ask for one!?"

"I'll have to pay an extreme amount for it and I'm a little low on cash. But if I lose a limb they have to attend to me, which will lead into a check-up."

"That's not how that works! Don't you have healthcare!?"

"No...My mom can't afford healthcare."

...

"Oh...right that."

"Ye~ah."

…

"Well uh...Dad!"

Just like that my mom and me got put on the Mei's family healthcare plan, they were surprisingly nice about it, and they got a hell of a lot of benefits. Though I guess it makes sense that they'll invest a lot into healthcare when their daughter spends most of her time in a fully functional workshop, where she'll time by time blow something up.

Mei was also nice in not telling her parents about me trying to saw off my own finger, meaning I avoid a very awkward conversation to prove I'm not trying to self-harm myself.

The entire process took 3 days to do as well, giving my legs plenty of time to heal so I can record myself using the new technique I taught myself before going to the hospital.

The check-up went fine as well, the doctor had a nurse to assist him. A blonde nurse and she was nice as well. I'll be lying if I said I wasn't fond of her blonde hair, I have an ungodly weakness to blonde haired girls, and I hope I never run into a troublesome one or else I'll be in trouble.

The doctor came right in time to interrupt my train of thoughts, giving me a rundown of the results, "Well Ken I got your results, you got a few things to look out for such as malnutrition, it seems like you're not getting enough sleep-"

"Yeah Doctor I don't care about all that, can I just get the results concerning my legs?" I interrupted.

The doctor looked puzzled, "Listen Ken it'll be in your best interest to at least be inform-"

I knew where this was going, so I stopped him in his tracks, saying, "I really only came here to get my legs checked out and I got something to do later."

I think I finally get the message through to the doctor as he just shrugged before telling me, "Well your legs are fine, but the muscles are extremely sore from the strain that was put on it. Did something weird happen to you recently, from the X-rays it seems like something exploded inside the muscles causing the strain. The bones still seems intact with minimal strain on it."

Something exploding in my legs, that phrase reminds me of that night, something did explode in my leg but what? It couldn't just be me exerting energy, it had to be something else like, my quirk! Yes my quirk, it must've been that it-

"Sir," The doctor spoke up again, "I seriously think you should take the physical report to look at-"

"I gotta go!" I shouted rushing out the room, I didn't want to wait before finishing my training.

**3 Days Later**

"So did you figure it out?" Free asked me when we met up again on the rooftops.

I would nod, "Yes I've finally discovered what happen. You see-"

"You built up the light particles you had stored into your leg and then release them in an explosive manner to launch yourself forward, but all that takes a toll on your leg." Free states.

…

"Y-yeah, wait if you knew why did you-"

"So that you can learn."

"Yeah I should've know."

Free dusted off his pants before announcing to me, "Now that we got that out of the way, time to stress test it."

"Stress test?"

"Yes, we're going to see how much you can build up at once. It's obvious you can take a lot at once so we gotta find an amount that makes your new ability effective but doesn't cripple you after a use. Something used for maneuverability probably shouldn't be a one time use," Free explained to me.

"Actually that won't be needed," I replied, this seemed to catch Free's attention, "Found a more effective way."

I turned toward a wide gap between two rooftops, doing a few stretches I explained what I meant, "I realized the issue was that the power exploded inside of my leg, but then I thought, why does it need to explode in my leg? It's not my actual leg doing the ability, it's just an outlet. If it's just an outlet for the light, then shouldn't I change how my leg acts as the outlet?"

I get a running start toward the edge of the rooftop.

"So instead of releasing all that store light in my leg like a bomb."

Right as I reach the edge I kicked off hard with my leg, but this time instead of an explosion of power, with a small flash of light under my foot it lifted off the ground like a jet and gave me the boost needed to perform a long leap to the next rooftop!

"I'll send it all out through the bottom of my feet and launch myself!"

I skidded to a stop when I landed, I was still able to stand and my legs didn't feel exhausted of all strength. There was a tingling feeling in my feet that gave off a weird sensation but I could still stand, the three days I spent training was well worth.

I turned around to face my mentor to show him how I'm still able to stand, I couldn't tell if he was happy because he never smiles, but seeing how proud he stood on the other rooftop as he looked at me made me think he was pleased with my progression.

"That's the benefit of being in control of your entire body, you've already found a way to dramatically make that move more efficient." He states.

"Oh that reminds me," I say taking off my shoes and seeing how tethered they became, "We can stop calling the move a library name, it's annoying."

After taking off both my shoes to give my feet air to breath I stood tall again.

"It's my **Flash Step** ability!"

**To Be Continue**

**((Next Chapter, Kano Will Meet Izuku and one other person. I wonder who it can be.**

**Hope you enjoyed the story, follow it if it interest you and leave a review on what you thought of the chapter.**

_**Also I got a Ko-fi so you can directly support me there, be sure to check out my youtube channel Hero DarkyDark. Also I got a Discord chat, so if you wanna chat or hang out with the community consider joining, code for it is /XunT8bu ))**_


	4. Work Ethics Through Trivial Means

**DISCLAIMER: Boku no Hero Academia is not owned by me but by Kohei Horikoshi, Bones studio, and Shonen Jump. Please support the official series.**

**Chapter 4**

**Work Ethics Through Trivial Means**

_The Reason I Am Part 3_

_Why did they put me on the spot like this?_

_"Try it again, Ken." A voice demanded._

_I didn't want to look up at the person demanding it, the feeling of worthlessness and shame was overpowering in my mind. It would only be more nightmarish if I made eye contact with them. Their haunting faces were already appearing in my mind, their judging looks of pity, disgust, and condescension. I'm willing to bet some of them were here just to make sure I saw them sneer._

_Why couldn't they get the hint? Why don't they get that some people fall into the unknown category? Is this how they get their sick kicks so they feel better about their own inadequacies?_

_"It's just a pen, you can't do anything to a pen?" One of the kids said._

_"I saw you practicing something in that abandoned building for about a month, I thought you finally learned to do something with your quirk." Another stated._

_My hands clutched the pen as hard as they could, hoping something would happen. I had spent hours clutching the pen, so long that it was night time when I stopped I had prayed, tossed it in the air, and gave it as much thought as possible, all to no avail._

_Filled with distress, I chucked the pen out the window. There was nothing I could do, except just yell in frustration. There's no point in doing this._

_There will never be a point!_

_Why didn't people get it?_

_What can I do about something that I couldn't control?_

_End of Part 3_

Mei was happily working away in her workshop. She was currently thinking of creating a sort of grappling hook, to really blow people away. The issue was that with the limited material and resources she had, building her new baby could prove difficult. Though, she was never one to back down from a challenge, and start concocting a solution to her little problem.

She didn't have much time to think, before her door was suddenly kicked open. She turned her head over to see what madman had crashed into her work space.

Of all people, it was her long time childhood friend Ken. He didn't even greet her, as he entered. Probably because he hadn't really entered like he usually did. Ken usually entered Mei's workshop without her noticing, either because she was too busy working or because of Ken's natural silent and low presence profile . From there, Ken would announce his presence to get her attention, or wait on the couch for a couple of minutes (or hours) until Mei finally noticed he was there.

This was a much more bold approach for the albino boy, he seemed to have literally sprung into the room as if he was launched out of a canon. He had attempted to do a divebomb onto the couch, but instead he failed horribly by hitting the backboard of the couch. The collision with the couch sprung him up, making him hit the wall behind it, knocking down a couple of items Mei had hung up on the wall before landing roughing back onto the couch just to bounce off of it and spin out of control. As he knocked over a lamp and slammed onto the table, he let out a painful groan while his hurt body slowly slumped off of the table. He did stick the landing by landing on all fours.

"What are you doing Kano?" Mei asked, curious to why he entered in such a sudden matter. She was more concerned with his out of character action than with his utter failure to perform a divebomb, he was injured now and failure is the best way to learn in her opinion. .

"Parkour!" Ken called out, slowly getting up while clutching his side. He landed pretty hard on that table and the jabbing pain in his ribs can testify to it.

"Par-what?" Mei repeated.

Not wanting to waste time explaining what parkour was, Ken opted instead to show her a video of parkour, she seemingly understood what Ken was trying to do. r.

With her initial questions answered she quickly asked some more, "While this does look extremely interesting I have to ask why you would suddenly take an interest in it? You've never been one to take up on flashy hobbies."

This brought Ken's mind back to the conversation he had with his mentor Free Destin the night he showed him the completed version of his Flash Step.

_"You want me to do this?"_

_"Yes," Free told me in his usual stoic manner, "Mastering this art will help cover at least three of your weakness."_

_"How will parkour cover my weakness-" Ken didn't even get a chance to finish his sentence before Free began listing off his flaws._

_"First off you're too uninspired with your movement."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"You always take the shortest route to everything, no extra movement. For example, whenever we scale up a building you only climb directly up. It's even leaking into your fighting style."_

_"I thought getting rid of unnecessary movement was a good thing?"_

_"Not when doing so creates predictability. Things like a overwinded punch or showboaty movement are things you can cut out completely as they do nothing to contribute to combat. But adding a few extra steps and turns can actually help you throw off an enemy."_

_"By putting on a show?"_

_"By making yourself harder to read, when you don't move in a straight line it'll prove difficult to telegraph your attacks. Whether you choose to fully walk the path of a hero or continue to be a vigilante with me there's no doubt you'll eventually meet stronger and smarter villains then the below fodder level crooks you've faced."_

_"...Was that a gaming reference."_

_"Focus." Free scolded._

_"Sorry."_

_"The smarter the villain is the more likely they're going to be using tactics against you and being predictable to them is basically a death sentence. You need to be unpredictable, to be unpredictable you need creativity, and parkour is all about creativity. It forces you to see everything different as you try to find the most interesting and creative way to get from point A to point B."_

_"I gotta find a flashy way to get around, great can't wait." Ken sarcastically says._

_"The other two weakness it'll cover relates to your problematic endurance and constitution."_

_"This again, I'm doing my best already. You know I can't rush my progress," Ken told him, it wasn't his fault he was born with a fragile body so increasing aspects like stamina takes longer than others. He has enough problems already with his health making sure he didn't vomit the few lunches he ate from being out in the sun for too long. It took years of training with Free to get where he is now, which is pretty impressive if you consider what his condition was beforehand._

_"I'm saying that if you learn parkour and incorporate it into your fighting style, you can make up for those weaknesses."_

_"Now you're taking a piss, I can believe the creativity but how can parkour help this?"_

_Free walked up to me, getting close before laying his index finger on my chest, telling me, "You have a weak body, if you improve your mobility with speed and unpredictability you can avoid attacks. You never get hit, you don't need to worry about your constitution."_

_"That...makes sense but what do I do when I do get hit. The chances of me never being hit especially at my current level is really low."_

_"You're still seeing parkour only as a parlor trick, consistently performing the act is no easy task. You have to maintain a good physique to use it as rapidly as you're going to once you start fighting real villains, on the bright side the consistent use of your entire body will eventually increase your overall build."_

_Ken thought it over, Free did make a lot of valid points. Though something still didn't feel right._

_That was when Free tapped his head to get his attention, "Instead of complaining about your weaknesses, create something that'll cover for it until you can fix it."_

_Without much other options Ken relented to the task, "Alright, alright I'll do it."_

_"Good, starting from today you're going to parkour everywhere you go."_

_…_

_"You're kidding right?" Ken asked awed from the demand._

_Free's face didn't change at all hearing this, he looked as serious as he always did while he continued to give Ken a stern look, Ken didn't remember if Free had ever told a joke before but it didn't hurt to check now._

_"You will parkour to school and back. That doesn't include the 15k you have to parkour everyday using your Flash Step."_

_The words echoed in Ken's head multiple times, he couldn't believe this._

_15 Kilometers._

Mei was quickly given a less detailed version of why he now has to parkour 15k everyday.

"15K!" Mei exclaimed, "Now that's harsh, how you holding up?"

"Well I've been at it for about 2 hours now and I've barely got 1k done," Ken groaned, those two hours have been extremely painful for a variety of reasons, "Thank god it's the weekend."

Trying to be an encouraging friend Mei cheer, "You can do it! You know what, I won't let you do this alone. If you're going to be parkouring for 15K straight, then I'm going to be working for 10 hours straight everyday as well!"

"I appreciate the sentiment but you essentially already do that." Ken told her with a sigh.

"Ah ah ah but," Mei replied, wiggling a finger front of Ken, "I'll be doing it, without any power tools."

…

Ken's only response to that was to clap both her cheeks at the same time, causing her to flinch and hold her face in pain.

"Ow~ what was that for?" Mei whined.

"For being the salt of my life," Ken mumbled walking past her, going over to an edge of the room that contained a couple of boxes, "Also for saying something stupid again."

This seems to both offend and confuse Mei, she replied, "It's not dumb, I'm trying to be supportive!"

"If you want to be supportive I could really use some arm protectors, my arms are already killing me." Ken told her, eyeing the boxes, "Which box did you keep that automatic pencil device or the stove safety gloves? Some quick tweaks with modifications and they can make do."

"You sure you want to use those, I made those years ago," Mei informed him, "I could just make you actual arm protectors, though it'll take a while."

Despite the kind gesture Ken refused, while he has his faults, he wasn't one that liked to taking handouts often. Mei already done enough for him with that healthcare situation, he can't keep taking favors from her, that would be too much. Plus too many favors and she might force him to test some crazy invention she created or make me sale some of her creations at some important event by guilt tripping me.

"Nah, beside it'll take you months to produce something of quality I can use. I'll just stick to these till after the entrance exam, I've hear if you get into the hero course they'll make the equipment for your hero costume." Ken told her searching through the boxes.

Mei shrugs, knowing how stubborn he can be about certain things, "They're at the bottom."

Later that day, Ken was on top of the rooftop breathing heavily, he had just spent another 2 hours parkouring through the streets and needed a rest. He may have found a more efficient way to use his Flash Step but that doesn't take away from the fact it's still draining on the legs after multiple usages over a short amount of time. The hardest part of this is that unlike a regular 15K run, parkouring delayed the process with detours and forced him to exert more energy. In a regular run he would just run in a straight path, no muss or fuss. Now he had to be climbing, bouncing, and flipping over stuff the entire distance.

The fact that he was new at this didn't help either, he was constantly bashing into things every time he uses his Flash Step while moving, and had to stop every few minutes to decide the path to parkour through. The entire process was annoying, he would've definitely taken doing flips building to building over this, at least then it would've taken up less time and less energy .

The only bright side was that Ken managed to salvage some of Mei's old inventions to protectors so his body wouldn't take too much of the impact when he crashed into something. They didn't fit well and at times got in the way when he tried doing rolls but it made everything easier to get through.

He sighs as he knows he has another 7K before he's done for the day, sitting around wasn't going to make them go away.

Standing up he put his mask, while the police were more concerned about the active public use of quirks, he knows there's some cops that won't take lightly seeing him jump around like this. As he scouted the area to decide his next path, looking at the next area there isn't too much to do beside climbing over a neon sign and swinging along some metal pipes for a couple of yards.

With the set path he would prepare himself, rearranging the hood over his head before giving it a running start. Leaping off the rooftop with the use of Flash Step he felt the wind blowing past his ears before it came to a stop once he grabbed onto the sign, quickly pulling himself up to the top of it.

He had definitely caught some attention from the citizens down below, he had to keep moving, if he keeps moving he can ignore the stares and he can continue training without fault. It'll be the worst thing ever to encounter a conversation now of all times.

Leaping from the sign, Ken caught and swung from pole to pole. He was doing pretty well, gaining enough momentum to throw himself high enough to land on his feet on another pole. Gaining a bit of confidence, he sprung off the pole using Flash Step, skipping over 3 poles he would've needed to swing on to get where he was now.

Unfortunately he didn't account for the amount of force he would have by making that jump on such tiny pole because when he reached it, it broke upon contact sending him falling. He was lucky he wasn't doing this in the area with taller buildings or else this could've ended worse off then it did.

Instead he fell, broke through another metal pole, and landed on the awning for a store.

It was a plastic covered awning so the landing wasn't that soft.

'Note...taken,' Ken thought to himself as he lay there in agony, it was either luck or instinct that he landed arms first. He could've sustained a lot more damage if he wasn't using arm protectors.

"Get off!" Ken heard the probable shop keeper yelled from down below.

While he would prefer to stay there for a while longer and rest, he understood the shop keeper's request. Lazily he would let himself slip off the curved awning to the ground to land on his feet.

Or at least that was the plan.

While he expected to have a clean landing, instead he seemed to have bumped into someone. He knew it had to be a person because they were extremely soft to fall onto, well soft until they both hit the hard concrete ground.

This just wasn't his day was it.

He could already hear two girls screaming and asking if someone was alright. Ken's best guess was that it was for the person he fell on and not for him, why would they care for the dumbass that got into this mess from his own carelessness.

Racking his mind back together so he can finally get off the person, he considered seeing if the person he fell on would have a quick conversation with him. He wanted to know what skin care product they used for their skin were extremely smooth, it felt wonder as felt it on his cheek, if he wasn't in public and the situation wasn't as wonky as it is now he may have wanted to snuggle with the person.

The fantasies had to wait, Ken had to make sure he didn't screw with his actual reality first. The first step would be finally getting off this person, any longer and it'll prove difficult to give an excuse that this was by accident. It might already be too late, but worst case scenarios he could always just bail.

Lifting myself off of the person I was surprised to see that whoever I fell on had pink skin and pink hair. They also had a distinct smell that was pleasant to the nose and a rather large lump on their chest.

…

'Oh god I fell on a girl!' Ken thought in a panic, he already had a hard enough time speaking to anyone that isn't someone he knew for years, and he was still recovering from his last break-up that left him strangely awkward when it comes to females.

This isn't to say he can't talk to girls, he had no more issues talking to the opposite gender then he did with boys. It was specifically when he comes in physical contact with a girl that triggers something in him that makes it harder for him to think straight. There are exceptions to this rule, of course his own mom and Mei were people he didn't have this problem with. In fact, them being female was almost entirely numb to him, he barely even reacted seeing them naked or in suggestive situations.

But when the girl is a stranger, that's a whole new can of worms, a scar that was yet to heal.

That was why Ken stayed silent as he looked down at this girl who herself was recovering from the collision, her eyes were squeezed shut as she groaned, "Ow, ow, ow, that hurts~!"

When she started sitting up Ken jumped back, she rubbed her head for a bit before opening her eyes revealing her black sclera eyes.

She looked anger for understandable reasons, giving me a glare to show her annoyance as she says, "What's your issue?"

Ken didn't respond, still stunned from his own personal issues to answer. He just stared in confusion as he was being scolded by this girl...and her two friends...and the shop owner. It took till the pink haired girl called out to him again to realize she was talking to him expecting an answer.

"Are you listening, what were you doing?"

This was enough to snap Ken out of his daze enough to try to answer but then a voice from far behind yelled.

"What's going on here!?"

Ken quickly turned around to see that it was a policemen rushing toward them, considering the ruckus he created and things he broke it wasn't going to be a friendly chat. For a number of reasons it wouldn't be good if he let himself meet with this cop, the possibilities of this being an overly strict cop alone could cause bigger issues in Ken's life.

He quickly jumped to his feet.

"Hey," the girl called out as she gathered her stuff, "Don't be rude and just leave without answering, what were you doing?"

In a panic between wanting to escape the police and this situation all Ken could think to say was, "Parkour!" before sprinting off. He didn't even bother to look back to see the reaction of her face.

He didn't worry too much about his identity being known, the one thing that stopped the event from spiraling even more down was the fact that his hood was still up the entire time. Ken always modified the hood of his hoodies to be extra long, even for his vigilante costume, benefiting him in multiple ways. The first was of course, how the extra coverage hid more of his face, the second was how it made managing the drawback of his quirk easier. He would feel nausea if his body absorbed too much light, either at once or in general. So it's a good thing the hood can block off the sun, or else he'll be vomiting a lot more.

Finally the hood helped him socially, when there's too many people in one area, the hood helps him cut down the number of people from his sight. It also helps hide his face when he does stupid or embarassing things like so.

If he was lucky the consequences of this event would end here.

Two weeks had passed since that day and Ken wasn't making much progress with his Parkour training. While he has been making fewer mistakes that lead to a public mishap like he had suffered before, he was barely finishing his daily quota. On the first day itself he didn't get home till around midnight and that was on a weekend, once the week started again it made him have even less time to keep up. It was hard enough getting a livable amount of sleep at night with his lifestyle, he didn't need some other task cutting into it.

The entire ordeal was getting to him because Free forbid him from doing any vigilante work till he manages to do the entire 15k of parkouring within a span of 7 hours. That was only after he was given an extra hour of pity after explaining how horribly he was failing at it.

Ken was currently walking down the street, giving up on trying to complete the challenge within the time limit for the day. Inspecting his arm protectors he already saw how battered they were, the entrance exams are still months away and they looked like they wouldn't last another week.

That's not even mentioning how he has to take an entirely different path then he was two weeks ago thanks to the little incident that had occurred, so any progress he could make out of memorizing the paths was lost.

It made him feel that all his efforts up to now was worthless.

It just all felt so pointless.

Should he even continue trying or maybe he should beg Free to give him something else to do?

The entire train of thought annoyed him and he couldn't relieve his stress through beating up villains because of Free's command. While he trusted Free's guidance, for all he has done for him, he sometimes feels as if he overestimates his capabilities. Sure nothing severely terribly happened because of it except a few cuts and bruises on his part, but eventually biting off more than he could chew will come back to bite him in the ass. Like that night he'd first used Flash Step to save that woman, sure he'd ended up saving her but only because he'd managed to surpass his limit that time. What if Free was wrong and he couldn't find a way to surpass himself? Hell he didn't even have the concept of how Flash Step even worked until almost too late, that lady could've died and it'll be on his hands.

'Free needs to remember that I have limits, I can't force what I don't have.' Ken thought to himself.

Within his deep thoughts Ken didn't even realize that he had walked onto a beach filled with rubble, when he did it was only as a passing thought, this was a new route after all so he shouldn't be surprised if he sees something new. He usually operates in the city areas then worry about the beaches on the outskirts, this was only a trivial place to him. Beside this place was absolutely filthy as if it hadn't been cleaned in years, what kind of people use a beach as a landfill?

That was when a thought occurred to him, he remembered it was quite a while ago Mei told him a story about how she would go to a place to see if she can find any valuable pieces of scrap, then she would recycle them for her inventions due to how expensive buying new materials can be.

Was this the place?

'Regardless, I should probably text her, see if there's anything she would like me to find here.' Ken thought to himself as he wandered throughout the area.

Taking out his phone he would go on to text back and forth with Mei, obviously she first asked the location of the beach for future reference. Ken was extremely focused on his conversation, to the point he would only gave a glance and slight nod at two other people he saw on the beach.

One was a green haired kid and the other was a blond man, or at least he thought it was. He only looked for a moment so he didn't even process their faces, for all he knows he just nodded to a pile of trash that happened to look like a human being. Like waking up at night and thinking the coat you had hung up was some monster.

"You know, one of them did seem big. Almost reminded me of All Might." Ken thought to himself with a chuckle, like the number 1 hero would spend his time here of all places and not out being praised like a star.

…

"Wait hold on,"

Almost immediately Ken dashed back to get another look.

What he saw was the green haired boy standing there, he looked really nervous and jumpy about something when he looked at him. There was no blonde man in sight, instead it was just him and this person he'd never met before. On the bright side at least this first encounter wasn't as extremely sudden and forceful as the other one.

Maybe just as awkward because both of us were just staring at each other for an extended period of time, as if we were both waiting for the other to start the conversation. Maybe this encounter was more awkward than the one he had with that pink skinned girl, but that would require them to be physically touching each other.

Eventually Ken decided to just break the ice, "Sup."

"H-hi," The boy squeaked.

…

This conversation really wasn't going to go anywhere unless one of them put effort into it, this is why it's hard talking to new people.

"So...what's your name?" Ken asked him, he felt like a kindergartner asking this stuff.

"Izuku Midoriya," Midoriya replied, "W-what's your name?"

Ken wasn't sure if it was weird for people to introduce themselves with their full name or not, not that it mattered to him anyways. He always introduced himself as one name and one name only.

"I'm Ken."

…

"Just Ken?"

"Yes, please refer to me as such."

"Oh, I-I see."

…

"Wasn't there another guy here?" Ken questioned.

"No!" Midoriya said quickly

…

"O-k," Ken looked around the area, while this is technically part of the beach, this deep in the rubble didn't seem like a place any regular person would hang out in. Unless he was doing something private in here. Deciding to probe a bit more he asked, "What you uh, doing here?"

"Oh me? N-nothing!"

"You sure?"

"Yeah!"

"Doesn't seem like nothing, you're sweating." Ken made the unconscious decision to glare at Midoriya, which was a huge mistake as it only made him seem more intimidating than he wanted to. Curse his eyes.

"Oh uh that," Izuku stammered looking away, "Well you see, I was just doing some exercise!"

"Exercise?"

"Y-yes."

…

"What kind of exercise?"

"Huh?"

"What kind of exercise where you doing? I don't see any equipment around."

"Oh well you see, it's uhh deeper into the beach."

"Then why aren't you there right now?"

"W-well you see, I wanted to take a break."

"A break?"

"Yeah."

"So you work out amidst a bunch of giant piles of trash…and then spend your resting periods among a different set of piles."

…

"Yes."

…

…

"Well that's a obvious fucking lie." Ken blurted out, 'This guy is weird."

It took a bit more banter before Midoriya finally said something that was sensible of the situation.

"Ok I admit, I was cleaning up the beach." Midoriya admitted.

"Was that so hard to say," Ken mumbled, wasn't sure why Izuku went through such lying. Unless, "Wait a minute, you were lying for a reason."

The comment seemed to have stricten the boy stiff, only confirming what was in Ken's mind. It would explain all his weird actions so far.

Pointing to Midoriya Ken stated, "You're a secret environmentalist aren't you?"

Midoriya eyes were wide as he stared blankly, "What?"

"You don't have to hide it with me," Ken assured him, "You probably hated seeing this pace so filthy, so like any good tree hugger you really wanted to clean it up. Though seeing your low confidence you didn't want to look like a dork cleaning up a beach so you tried to lie about it to keep your reputation up."

A quick explanation from Midoriya about him having the clean the whole beach as some sort of training cleared that misunderstanding up.

While Ken sat on many of the piles that surrounding him, he would be covering part of his face with his hand, looking down at his feet, "C-can we just pretend I never said what I did?" he mumbled. Thankfully Midoriya nodded in agreement.

This is why Ken doesn't like talking to strangers, it always goes wrong. He's lucky that this Midoriya person was understanding enough to not see him as a complete idiot, or if he does but he's being nice by hiding it.

Letting out a sigh Ken said, "Beside that little...non-existent moment, it's pretty crazy you have to clean this entire beach by yourself. Whoever assigned it to you must've really wanted to teach you something."

Midoriya looked shocked, "I didn't say someone told me to do this."

"Because you don't seem like the person who'll just do this for training out of nowhere, I might've believed it if you were an environmentalist trying to do something," Ken stated, "It'll make more sense if you had a teacher who told you to do this, I can relate, I got someone training me who makes me parkour for 15K."

"15K!" Midoriya repeated, "What kind of training is that for?"

Ken would nod, "Yeah I know, it takes forever to get done. Pretty absurd, but that's what the guy thought would prepare me to take the hero entrance exam."

Midoriya seem to spark up upon hearing this, "You're planning on taking a hero entrance exam!? That means you're trying to get into the hero course, does that mean you want to be a pro-hero?"

He spoke passionately as if this was a lifelong interest he had, a lot more lively and confident then he was before.

'Well more like being a pro-hero is a stepping stone to what I actually want to be, though it'll be in my best interest to keep that part to myself,' Ken thought to himself, instead of verbally lying to broccoli haired kid he would just nodded.

"By any chance is the school you're trying to get into UA?" Midoriya asked.

This would've freaked Ken out about the accurate guess, but he was calm, UA is the most popular hero school, someone asking if you're going to apply there once they hear that you want to be a pro-hero isn't new.

Ken answered him, "Yeah, I'm applying there."

To the surprise of the Albino boy, Midoriya almost instantly went into a long monologue about UA, the pro-heroes that came from there, the history of the school, and some facts that made Ken question how long this person searched up random facts about a place.

It was annoying hearing him go on and on, it was like a child who got way to pumped up with sugar going wild by his ear. If this was Mei he would've already interrupted her and knocked her back on subject, but that thought brought out a strange feeling that made him let Midoriya go on for a bit longer.

Seeing him talk like this, he never looked so alive as if this was what he wants to do with his life. When Ken first saw Midoriya, Midoriya looked so plain. Dead even, buried in his own insecurities judging from how often he stuttered. Yet here he was, speaking like he's on top of the entire world, it reminded him of how Mei acts with her inventions. At first he took it as Mei's crazy addiction to her work, so he got used to it after years of spending time with her, but seeing that same energy in someone he considered more sane, it amazed him.

This is what it's like to have a passion.

Eventually though he did interrupt Midoriya, he forgot what was the line he interrupted on but whatever it was, it sparked a joking statement.

"Seems like you're a real hero encyclopedia, are you training to become a hero as well?"

…

The answer was a surprising one for sure, but what really hit him was when he found out that Midoriya was quirkless, and the finisher was hearing he planning to attend UA as well.

"Why are you trying to be a hero when you don't have a quirk?" Ken asked, it seemed so insensible. He himself has a quirk and he barely thinks he can pass the entrance exam the way he is right now. Of all schools why choose the best one too, maybe if he aims for a lower quality school he'll have a chance to get in.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, you definitely got heart but, you gotta realize you have limits and should know when it stop."

He doesn't like crushing people who aren't villains hopes but, there isn't a point to go to this extent for a childhood dream that should've died when reality set in.

…

The fact that Ken could now hear the ocean testified to the silence that came between them.

'I did it again didn't I?' Ken thought to him, retracting himself more under his hood. This is why he hates talking to new people, it always goes wrong when he opens himself up. That's why it's better to keep to himself.

"Yeah, I know it sounds ridiculous, I thought it was at one point too."

Ken eyes widen up and look at the Midoriya, he expected to see him upset, but he was smiling. Not like a super childish or empty smile, but a genuine smile as he spoke.

"I've always wanted to be a hero since I was a child, until I heard that I was quirkless. In truth that should've killed my dream dead but in some twisted way I managed to keep it alive through a sense of denial," Midoriya continued, getting up from the spot we were sitting at. As he spoke he was cleaning away at a pile of rubble that surrounded us.

"I was hoping that maybe one day a miracle would happen and I'll wake up being able to be a hero. As time went on I could only feel the hope I had growing dimmer, begging for something to save it. I always hoped someone could tell me I could be a hero, that was until I met someone I looked up to. I was of course expecting him to give me some hope of being hero but even he doubted me and that point I couldn't deny what I kept down all those years. I really couldn't be a hero no matter how hard I tried."

Ken was feeling extremely nostalgic, he himself remembered a feeling of hopelessness, and while he wasn't quirkless, for the longest time he thought his quirk was more of a curse, seeing how little it did for him yet he still suffers from full side effects from having the quirk. He wanted to add in but couldn't, instead all he could do was continue watching Midoriya clean up the garbage and speak. He wanted to know, if everything told him to stop, then why is he still continuing now, is it just an unhealthy obsession he isn't letting go.

"But then something happened that day, a friend of mine… or well a person I considered a friend was in trouble and without thinking, I rushed in so fast I barely had time to think about how I was at a complete disadvantage in the situation. I almost got myself killed...which is why I understand why the pro-heroes scolded me afterwards. I really did deserve it. Though the best thing came after, someone said that while my actions may have been reckless, the fact that I was so willing to help someone in need that I jumped in without regard for myself, meant that I truly had the heart of a hero."

As Midoriya approached what seemed like a fridge, putting in all his strength pushing into it, "It was there that someone finally told me that I could a hero, I cried a lot that day. That's why no matter what challenge is ahead of me, I'll continue to work as hard as I can."

With one final push Midoriya cleared the fridge out of the way, allowing the setting sun to shine through the rubble.

"So that I can be a hero."

A gorgeous light that was as bright as the boy's dreams.

This is what it's like to have a passion.

"Oh my gosh Ken are you ok your eyes are glowing!" Midoriya blurted, losing that cool mature aura he was giving off before.

It took a moment for Ken to realize what Midoriya meant while he was in a trance, his eyes which were usually a dull grey color were now a yellowish color reflecting the evening glow. He wasn't sure why but he felt extremely embarrassed by this, quickly hiding his eyes from Midoriya's sight.

"Ah, that's just my quirk," Ken quickly explained, "It does that sometimes, it just means I've been out for longer then I expect."

Ken rose from his seat and asked Midoriya, "Do you have a name, I mean a shorter version of your name like a nickname. I always hated long names and prefer the short and simple kinds."

"Well...I guess you can use the...embarrassing nickname I had since elementary school." Midoriya mumbled under his breath, looking away a bit shamefully.

"That's fine what is it?" Ken told him.

He saw Midoriya mouth move but he heard nothing.

"I'm sorry what?" Ken asked, "I didn't catch that."

"Deku." Midoriya mumbled again.

That name sounded familiar to Ken, as if it meant something but he couldn't put his finger on it. He's terrible at these multi-meaning words.

"Well anyways see ya around Deku," Ken said before he began walking away.

"Ah, you're leaving?" Midoriya asked.

"Yes," Ken answered as he continued walking, "I got a few kilometers to go."

Midoriya couldn't really stop him so he just waved him off, "O-ok, goodbye."

Before Ken fully left the area he took off the protectors he was wearing, tossing them on top of one of the piles.

"Hey!" Midoriya called out from behind him, he already had enough to clean up, and he didn't want more.

"I don't need them anymore, beside you were cleaning up anyways right? Yeah consider this just a bit of extra training," Ken told him, looking back to give him a small smirk before walking off, "I might come back another time."

Midoriya could only sigh, he wasn't brave enough yet to pursue on such a petty task.

'Thank you Deku,' Ken thought to himself, 'I was slacking a bit there, but it's time to get back on that grind.'

3 Weeks Later

Once again, Ken was left on a rooftop, panting, his lungs felt heavy, and his face was covered in sweat. Yet unlike before he wasn't feeling disappointed with himself.

Click!

The sound of a stopwatch echoed throughout the night.

"Just a minute to spare," Free told him, "Cutting it close aren't you?"

Ken looked up at his mentor, satisfied with his results as he snarky replied, "Close is still passing."

Free quietly stuffed his stopwatch into his pocket, "I guess you're right, you managed to do this quicker than I expected. I was expecting at least another two weeks, guess I miscalculated a bit."

Little did Free know that while he did underestimated the time it'll take for him to complete the quota, he didn't overestimate Ken's capabilities. He was actually spot on to what he could achieve.

Which is why Ken stood and asked, "So what's next?"

**TO BE CONTINUE**

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	5. What Inspires A Journey

**DISCLAIMER: Boku no Hero Academia is not owned by me but by Kohei Horikoshi, Bones studio, and Shonen Jump. Please support the official series.**

**Chapter 5**

**What Inspires A Journey**

_The Reason I Am Part 4_

_The rain had soaked my clothes, it was an expected result, the dark clouds that were forming in the sky was an obvious giveaway. Earlier that day when I sat there, staring out the window during class, I felt relieved. While everyone else was praying to not get a storm so they can spend their day out in the sun, I was cheerful to finally be able to spend an afternoon without needing to have my hood up._

_It was quite a chore going through this cycle everyday just because of my quirk's effect on my body. If I was a comedian I would laugh at how the only source that powers my quirk, is the same thing that'll make everyday a grueling drag for me. _

_But I couldn't, because this is a cruel reality that I lived in it. In a world where mutation usually ranges from greatly improving one's life to just mildly infuriating, I somehow got stuck with one that made life more dreadful than just being quirkless. If I was quirkless, at least I would've had something to fantasized about a better what-if and have some superficial concept to blame. I know the what-if, it's just not as romanticized as people make it out to be and there's nothing I can run behind to avoid that fact,_

_Lucky or not I manage to avoid disillusioning myself, I knew I was stuck like this, so I had to find something once in a while to enjoy._

_That was why, when it rained down on the way home, I felt lucky. I've come to enjoy the rain, partly for the shade it gives me but also because of how it felt being out there. Each drop that hit my skin felt nice, the water flowed smoothly across my body. They were some of the few things I didn't mind letting touch my body, they didn't cause discomfort._

_Of course I wasn't an idiot, I knew better than anyone else how limited my body is. I shouldn't be out any longer if I can help it, if I get sick it'll be a devastation to my health. That would mean no detours, guess Mei will have to wait till tomorrow to test her color palettes on her new invention. Compromising on my desires and my needs, I calmly walked my way home as if nothing else was wrong._

_I got a few stares, most concerned about my health as well or if I was crazy. It was embarrassing and I wanted to hide under my hood, I hate getting too much attention. Pushing on I managed to get through the stares all the way home._

"_Welcome back Kano," I heard my mother called out as soon as I walked through the door._

"_Hey," I greeted my mom, I could her in the living room, she was currently looking through a stack of paper._

_She only gave me a passing glance before telling me, "I brought some chili from work, you can have it if you want."_

_I wasn't sure if she noticed how soaking wet I was or decided not to comment on it, I was more surprised she greeted me before I said something first. She usually don't notice that I returned when she's working till after I announce it, so I'm guessing the rain helped alarm her. _

_I took off my shoes, socks, and hoodie so I wouldn't get too much water on the floor before walking to my room. I texted Mei about not coming before quickly taking a shower, I would take a moment to look at my body, so pale. The different marks on my body from scraps only further dirtied my already flawed canvas. The shower itself was great, the warm water did ease my muscles and warm me up. Stepping out and getting dressed in light clothing I would make my way to the kitchen. _

_I would quickly find the container that held the chili, I looked inside and actually got excited. This wasn't just any plain chili, this had all that other extra stuff in it. Must've been store bought and it doesn't even looked touch, was her place hosting an event? Either way it was going to taste wonderful once warmed._

"_Thanks for the food," I told my mom on the way to the bedroom, "You ate right?"_

_She would nod, "Yeah of course, they had an extra I sneak out so enjoy it," she said. She would run her forehead before taking a sip from the beer can she had set next to her._

_Nodding I would enter my room, throwing the blanket over my head, turning on my phone to look up recent news._

"_Come on, come on, please let there be something," I mumbled to myself, I was on a hot streak today and didn't want it to stop._

_I must've had my stars aligned today for I saw what I was looking for, a recent news video showing of a top 10 hero in action. Setting it up so I can watch while eating I felt calm._

_It rained today, I'm getting some decent food, and I get to watch my idol in action. By far was this one of the better days I've had in months._

_As I entertained myself with watching the video I couldn't help but admire the hero saving everyone, he may not be widely liked, or covered often like a superstar, but he truly did his job of stopping villains. _

_He couldn't help but think, 'If he was here, all the villains around this would've always been stopped. If I could be anything close to him, I would easily make sure those villains never show up again."_

_End of Part 4_

It's been three months since Ken met Izuku, they've met a few times when Ken came by the beach either on route of his parkour training or when Mei asked him to pick up some scrap. Izuku seemed more spooked that someone would continuously comeback to an area just to chat to him. It made Ken wonder if Izuku ever had a friend before, then as they had more conversation he could make a highly educated guess that he didn't. He was somehow more of a social wreck then he was.

Their chats were usually light and casual, talking about heroes and trading advice on what techniques they can use to help with their training. They usually didn't last anymore then 10-15 minutes, 30 minutes if they decided to use the time to eat something. They worked perfectly as a break between both their training, but neither of them let this new acquaintance of their interrupt them from their goals.

This was fine by Ken, while Midoriya was a nice change of pace to talk to, this was more of a motivational interaction then personal. Seeing someone without a quirk working hard toward a near impossible task was inspiring to him despite his personal opinion on the matter.

That's not to say he doubts Midoriya conviction to be a hero or that he wouldn't make a great hero if he had been a bit luckier with his ability, it's just that there's a difference between logical reality and a hopeful fairy tale. This isn't some teenage story where just because an idea sounded inspiring doesn't mean it'll actually happen, this is a world of mysterious powers and bright eye optimism wasn't going to make it go away. A human can run fast but no matter how much they train they'll never outrun a car.

He isn't looking down on Midoriya as if he's some sad flopping fish trying to become a bird, in fact Midoriya's work ethics serves as a lesson to him, it's that even at one's lowest, they can still fight for their goal.

Ken never mentioned this to Midoriya's face, but he has been observing him over the last couple of weeks, and his body's been developing quite well since they've first met. The muscles he had grown were the rewards of his hard work and they should be cherished no matter the results he'll get during the exam. Saying this to another male without having its intention misinterpreted was a task Ken wasn't even going to bother doing. It was too easy to screw up for a man as compulsive with words as he was.

Regardless, even though Midoriya may not become a hero, Ken was sure that whatever path this person takes, he would do great in if he puts the effort into it that he is now.

"How's your neck training?" Midoriya asked Ken during one of their quick meetings, we were sitting down drinking from water bottles.

"It's going well, you were right, my neck hurts a lot less now." Ken replied, it was a good thing Izuku suggested to do some neck training whenever Ken got home as a thank you for teaching him better grabbing techniques. Strengthening his neck made it so he took less damage to his spine whenever he hit his head, which was useful when the bulk of his training involves a high chance of bashing himself against multiple buildings and other objects.

Looking at it another way, he was lucky he break anything before he got insurance. He would've said that was reckless of Free Destin to let him, but then he realized the line of work he was in and

"It has been a life saver considering what I gotta do now," Ken complained, "My mentor saw how often I was passing his set goals and he said 'You're learning fast, complete this last challenge and we can move onto the next stage of your training.'"

Midoriya tilt his head confused, "That doesn't sound so bad."

Ken Snark, "Oh I forgot to mention, that simple goals I have to do? Yeah well, I went from having to do 15k in 8 hours, to 20k in 2 hours!"

That little fact was enough to make Midoriya spit out his water.

"Oh that's just one part of the task meant to test my speed, the second part is what I have to do with the remaining 6 hours I have. Which is parkouring another 30k!"

"I'm sorry I asked."

It was truly hell, Ken will admit his progress was growing excessively once he got the hang of things. He was surprised when he looked like how long it usually took people to regularly run 10k and saw how he was given a large amount of extra time. He assumed this was done for two reasons, one to give him time to get use to parkour, knowing that the unfamiliar territory and his issues with creativity would extremely slow him down. The second might've been so he wouldn't be too discouraged when he was failing at it in the beginning.

He didn't expect such a difficulty spike, the training wheels was really coming off now. It makes sense as the entrance exam was drawing ever so closer.

At the moment he's only paying attention to see if he can do the 20k in hours first, it didn't matter if he manages to do the 50k in 8 hours if he doesn't get past that threshold first.

Ken knew it was going to be some time before he can ever think about completely this set goal so he was in no rush, better not strain himself over it. He did have months left anyways.

No wanting to spend the little break he had talking about his training he quickly changed the subject, "You see the villain attack that happened 3 days ago?"

This worked like a charm as Midoriya immediately gushed his heart out about the event, "Oh you mean that stand off the group of heroes had against that small time Yellowfang Gang, I rewatched the entire thing about 3 so I can catch every detail. My favorite moment was when Air Jet came late with air support!"

As Midoriya continued to go ballistic with his knowledge of all the heroes and their quirks, it served as a reminder why Ken never told Midoriya anything specific about his quirk. He kept it all as vague as possible because he was extremely afraid that if he tells the broccoli haired kid too much, he'll stop examining him as descriptive as he does pro heroes. Though, his quirk analyzation skills could be helpful one day. With the disadvantage Ken will usually be at, quirk-wise, against other people, it'll be smart to keep someone who can figure out a quirk within seconds of being given details.

The only worry he had was if he does keep in contact with Midoriya and Ken does get into the hero course, will he have to deal with Midoriya constantly asking him information about the class. He really didn't feel like being aggressively bothered daily to see if he can get the pro-hero teacher's autograph just for an analyzer. He was going to be extremely busy with school life and whatever else Free will have him be doing during it, he didn't need the equivalent of a little brother asking for favors in his ear.

In the end he had faith that Midoriya wouldn't be super annoying about it if things go as planned.

Interrupting whatever part of his speech he was at, Ken said, "Oh Midoriya, you mind if I get you number?"

The face Midoriya had on switched to one that looked like he was going to cry, he was acting like this was the first person to ever ask for his number.

"S-sure!" Midoriya told me, quickly pulling out his phone. The smile he had on was really creepy to see as they told each other their numbers, he was too emotional about this. Ken was already having feelings of regret but he's too deep in it now and he wasn't rude enough to abruptly cancel.

That was when Midoriya posed a question, "Oh Ken, I didn't think of till now but who is your favorite hero? We often talk about hero together and you already know how much I look up to All Might, so-"

"Endeavor." Ken said without hesitation, being in a mid daze about the conversation as he was still focused on entering in Midoriya's number and weighting if he made a good or bad choice here.

It wasn't until he looked up and saw Midoriya expression that he got the feel he said something wrong.

"You like Endeavor?" Midoriya asked.

Ken's face echoed Midoriya's in being a high level of surprise, curse his compulsiveness.

"Oh well I mean it, I don't admire like him." Ken quickly stated, that was a lie, "I just like his work," that was also a lie.

"Oh no no it's fine if you admire him."

"Oh yeah, course I do...not admire him I mean! I meant that I know that if I did admire him, I could if I'm in front of you."

"Oh that's good...it was just strange is all."

"Yeah, I can tell."

"He's just, really infamous and all."

"Probably a rarity to see someone say he's their favorite."

"He's just not known to be friendly with the press."

"I know…"

…

"Why do you like him?"

"What?"

"J-just wondering, nice to know why people like the heroes they do."

"Oh well...he's cool."

"Ah...I see."

"Young Midoriya how's the beach going?" A skeletal blonde man said stepping into the area, upon seeing Ken he would say, "Oh, Ken. You're here."

This was apparently Midoriya's mentor, he always seemed uneasy whenever Ken stopped by, it was as if he was hiding something. They've barely spoke anyways, Ken's usually gone by the time he arrives or he leaves on some 'business'. In Ken's honest opinion this man was really shady, but he of all people had no right to talk being trained by shady people.

See this as a chance to escape the conversation Ken would get up, "Yeah, though I should be getting back to my training. I had enough of a break."

"Oh, a-alright. Take care Ken." Midoriya said.

"Good luck with your training." Midoriya's mentor told me.

With a quick nod and wave he went on his way. Randomly Ken questioned why he never asked what Midoriya's master's name was, then he would remember that since Midoriya never asked what his was, Ken wouldn't ask for his. Weird relationship but there's a reason why Ken doesn't have a lot of friends at this point, beside the mountain of other reason. Not like it mattered, to Ken all he saw was just some personal trainer raising a boy's self-confidence. He had to give him credit, for someone that looked like he never ate meat in his life, he knew how to put someone of a regiment to get them fit after seeing the result it had on Midoriya. Maybe he should also get his number, another weakness he has is a lack of power.

Power, the thing Endeavor have loads of. It was a weird transition but that's part of the course for Ken by now, ever since he started to widen his perspective of things through parkour his mind have been going to weird places at random times.

Anyways he isn't ashamed per say about being a huge fan of Endeavor, it's more of a thing to help his image to others. The collective fan base of people who say Endeavor is their favorite hero, usually include fanatics, people in prison, and teens in their rebellious age. Ken had enough problems trying to get people to see him as more than some weak, sickly, pasty, brooding edgy kid that looks way too much like a vampire, if people find out that he admires Endeavor as much as a child would admire All Might, there'll be nothing he can do to change their minds.

It'll be virtually impossible to convince people that his admiration for Endeavor is something more than just some teen's romanticization of a stoic hero during his little phase.

It wasn't something complicated, it was for the simple reason that means so much to Ken, but it isn't some random romanticization of just a man looking cool.

It was because Endeavor's did his job.

A beyond all the other crap that's tagged onto the occupation, hero's job is to defeat villains, and that's exactly what Endeavor does.

He has more arrests then the Number 1 Hero All Might yet unlike other heroes he doesn't just shine off his achievement like he's some superstar, he continues devoting himself to his work. The more he worked the more villains he captures and the more villains captured the less chance those villains have to cause harm to innocent people.

No one may fully recognized it but, between All Might and Endeavor, Endeavor have less villain that escaped prison after being arrested. Whatever he does, it sticks and for the better of humanity.

Some may say that's it's a shallow reason and he didn't really care. People are harmed everyday by villains, human life are damages in ways they can't recover from, and can't be allowed to go on any longer.

These villainous acts have to end and the only way to truly make them end, is to make sure the people who commit these deeds can no longer perform them again.

That was what he wanted to be, Ken would mumble to himself, "I want to become someone who can end it the first time around. When I hit someone, they will stay down."

With the luck of an angel he would then spot the exact situation he was talking about.

It was when he was walking down an empty street, some tall, ash blonde woman who looked like she just came from getting groceries for her wonderful family, seemed to be getting harassed by two shady man in black clothing.

Such an innocence defenseless woman is about to get her life flipped on her head, if she survives this experience. Yet no heroes are here to save her and no civilians are around to help. If this was any other day this woman would be all alone.

'But that day isn't today,' Ken thought to himself as started heading toward that direction. This is why people like Free are needed, people who don't just look for villains in the light, but dives deep into the darkness to snuff them out. For those poor souls that unfortunately gets tangled into the darkness, they need someone who can take away their worry and say, 'Because I am here!'

As he got closer, the smile he had was practically unhinged. The thoughts of putting his new training into practice filled him with nothing but anticipation, he didn't even care that he has yet to be taught how to actually apply the new training to fight. He was going to take these two out and make sure they never threaten someone again.

This was going to feel amazing to him, like a compulsion high.

"Hey, you guys just harassed your last civilian. Prepare to pay with your flesh!" He declared before dashing in using his Flash Step to get between the two shady men, taking them out in an instant.

That WAS the plan, but before he got the chance to enact this plan that Ken was planning in his head, the woman without a care in the world threw her groceries into the air behind her before knocking one of the men out with a single punch.

"WHO DO YOU PUNKS THINK YOU ARE!?" She declared in a mighty voice deserving of a lion.

This was enough to stop Ken right in his tracks, this wasn't a part of his plan, he was kinda planning on him saving the day. The best he could so was instinctively catch her groceries before they spilled all over the ground.

By the time he looked up again, the woman was shaking the second shady person's unconscious body like a ragdoll.

"OI, ANSWER ME, WHERE DO YOU GET OFF!?" She yelled again.

This situation was giving him whiplash just by thinking about it, he gently set the bags he caught to the side and went to confront this woman who beat up two guys in a moment.

While she was too distracted interrogating the knocked out man, Ken got close before introducing him.

"Are you o-"

He was never given the chance to finish, without hesitation the ash blonde threw her leg in his direction, smashing her foot right in his groin.

Despite wearing a protective cup, a jolt of pain still struck throughout my body. He was pretty sure she dented the cup with that kick. He didn't even have a chance to recover from the pain before he felt a fist crashing into his nose, drawing blood instantly from the damage. This hit didn't have any buffers to dilute the pain, he felt the full force and it's stabbing pain echoed throughout his head.

This woman was truly relentless as Ken felt her grabbing onto his hoodie to hold him up.

Everything was happening so fast that it was hard for Ken to react to things, he should've never let his guard down.

"Oh so there's more of you huh!?" He heard her say, he got a look of her face and saw her fiery red eyes.

'More of you? Oh god is she mistaking me as a villain!' Ken thought in his mind, this is what he was afraid of! This wasn't even the first time he got mistaken as a villain, even when he wasn't doing vigilante shenanigans. It wasn't like he blamed them, if after dealing with a villain attack and he would see some hooded, ghost pale person with his kind of face, he would assume that person was a villain as well.

That doesn't mean it still didn't hurt at times, figuratively and physically…mostly physically. Someone once tried to stab him in the chest with a wooden stake because they thought he was a vampire.

Ken tried to explain, "Relax lady, I-"

"Relax!? You're telling me to relax!?" She shouted at him, landing another shot on her jaw. He could feel his brain shaking in his head.

She looked like she might've taken another swing before Ken raised his arms in defense shouting out, "14! I'm 14 and not a villain!"

This seemed to spark the woman to take a moment to examine the person she was beating up. He did have quite the young face, and he was shorter than the other two men, and looked _**slightly**_ less menacingly, and was less properly dressed, and the look in his eyes were saying 'Oh god why is she attacking me' and not 'Oh god I messed with the wrong lady'.

Almost instantly she realized her mistake, releasing her deadly grip on his hoodie, and kindly grabbing his shoulders to check on him.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry for hurting you," The woman says.

Finally being able to speak without getting assaulted he would use it state, "Why you hit so hard!?" his voice cracked a bit saying that, his jaw was in pain.

"I'm so sorry," The woman continued to apologize, "I was just dealing with those guys and-"

"And you just assaulted me."

"I know! You just walked behind me with your hood up and I panic!"

"You hit, so hard!"

"Why did you sneak up behind me?"

"I didn't, I casually walked up to you after saving your groceries!"

"Aw, you save my groceries."

"And you hit me, SO hard!"

"Ok I get it, I hit you by mistake, you don't have to be overdramatic."

"I'm bleeding!" Ken exclaimed, holding a hand to his nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

Moving Ken's hand out of the way the lady would quickly examine his nose, it gave Ken another chance to see the woman's face. This time instead of fear he actually had time to look at her like a person who wasn't assaulting him. This woman was extremely beautiful from her ash blonde hair, her red eyes, and her cheek bones.

'Oh god here we go again.' Was the thoughts that went through Ken's mind, 'She's hot!'

In this world there's these things called weaknesses, most people refer to it as 'their type', they're features that a person can have which would make them insanely attractive to another person by default.

Ken have 3 major weaknesses when it comes to females. They're females that are blonde, older women, and big...assets...especially the top assets.

Of course the woman that beats the crap out of him on an empty street is a woman that fits all three.

He was lucky he had the excuse of recently being punched in the face...twice, to explain away why his awed face was instead an astonished face. His blood served well in reddening his cheeks to hide his blush as well.

"It doesn't look broken, so you don't need to go to the hospital," The woman said, pulling away from him. She would take out a handkerchief, giving it to him to hold on his nose, "But it can still use some treatment, along with your face."

Ken would just watch, unable to say words. He did make unexpected contact with her, combine that with everything else and he's back in that troublesome mindset he was in when he fell on that girl three months ago. He was not focusing on anything else.

As the woman quickly went to pick up her groceries in one hand, she would walk back to Ken, taking his hand in her own soft palms.

"Come on, I'll patch you up at my house, it's not that far from here," She told him before leading both of them down the street.

'This feels like a completely different story!' Ken thought as he was too dizzy to resist her, letting himself be dragged off.

He was feeling so conflicted, on one point he should be doing his training instead of goofing off, as well as he felt like he forgot to do something. On another point, a woman that fulfill his entire criteria was dragging him off somewhere for treatment.

The debate boggled his mind, it didn't help that feeling her soft hand on his skin was sending his mind to a haze. To everyone else, this looked like a mother taking her albino son back home from the grocery store after the son did something to cause himself to get a nosebleed.

His hand was unintentionally shaking, the result of physical contact with a stranger, and a reminder of a past scar. His body couldn't help but be jittery, he wanted to pull away but for less sensible reasons didn't try too hard to. Her grip was tight on it anyways.

"You nervous?" The woman asked after feeling how bad Ken's hand shaking, as they walked she would turn back, "Don't worry, you were probably trying to help me out back there with those two guys and I mistook it and busted up your nose. Let me apologize by taking care of it," She would give him a caring smile to calm him down.

While in reality this is kind-hearted interaction, to the mind of a teenage boy whose mind was already a rumbling hurricane, this was fantasy overkill. Now his entire body was shaking, as well as more blood to conveniently be flowing out his nose.

"What's your name?" The woman asked.

Hearing the question help get Ken's mind out of it's fuzzy state, but he still needed some time to recover, "Huh?"

"What's your name, I want to know the name of the brave boy who wanted to save me," Her voice sounded almost teasing, like a woman watching a child try to look strong by carrying 4 foldable chairs at once. It was heart-warming to him but also felt slightly condescending, though he was used to being looked down on.

"K-ken."

"Just Ken, that's a strange? Is it short for something?"

"Y-yes, well no. I-It's a nickname I make everyone call me. I'm terrible with long names, I usually have people tell me a simplified version of their names so I can remember them better. Ken is suppose to do the same back."

"Hm? So you like things short and simple huh, I can get behind that. Well my name is Mistuki Bakugo or if we're going by your naming conventions, You can just call me Mrs.B."

"Mrs.B?"

"Yeah, I wanted to be clever and go with Mis B but I realized that'll make it sound like I wasn't married. Besides, I'm probably going to be the most memorable Mrs.B you'll meet," Her light-hearted tone was almost angelic.

…

"Man I must've hit you harder than I thought, you're bleeding a lot. Good thing we're here."

It was a good thing the trip was over, he might've passed out from blood loss or a brain overload if things went on. When they entered the house she quickly led him to the kitchen, thankfully sitting him down there before heading to the bathroom to collect the first aid kit.

"Try not to get blood on the table or floor," She called out.

Deciding the best way to prevent this was by making his way over to the sink, using it to wash some of the blood staining his face. This did give him time to calm down and collect himself. He tried his best to clean the handkerchief given to him, it had minimum results.

By the time he gave up Mitsuki had returned.

"Oh you manage to stop the bleeding, good," Mitsuki commented, she would prop up a chair, "Sit down, it shouldn't take too long to patch you up."

As the older woman cleaned up Ken's injuries she would continue to have small chit-chat with him, mostly to make him more comfortable as she worked on him.

"It's going to be just me and you for now."

"A-alone?"

For obvious reasons this was going to be a difficult situation for him. Mitsuki was extremely alluring to Ken's eye just by appearance alone, then adding in her kind and nurturing personality, and the fact that strangely he found getting beat up by her attractive. Now she was extremely close to him, in a position where he couldn't put some distance between them without looking weird.

'Oh god her cheekbone are perfect!' He thought in his mind, 'Resist urges! She's married and have a kid, can't ruin that family that's together.'

This grew harder as he could still see her bright smile, unknowingly a part of his cheek turned a tiny bit pink.

She would giggle, "Don't get any ideas, I may have brought you here but you know I won't hesitate to take you out... I think the bleeding is starting?"

"Uh, no I mean that, you said you were married so I thought you'll have someone home."

The second Ken felt his eyes going down toward Mitsuki's cleavage, he would shut his eyes and keep them that way. He wasn't going to act like he was some saint, he had his own perverted thoughts in his life, but there is a time and place for a boy to sneak a look. When they're facing you little under a feet away, doing something that require paying attention to one's face and its functions was not the time!

The little look he did get beforehand was one he was going to keep in his mind for a long time.

"My husband is still at work and my idiot son isn't home, he's probably out doing something reckless again. It's fine though, I can use their absence as me-time. Hope you don't mind an empty house."

"No, I'm used to it. I'm usually living alone at home with just my mom, been that way for a couple of years now."

"Are you an only child?" Mitsuki felt his body twitch as she touched his nose.

"No, I have 2 siblings. One older and younger, they're around 5 years apart from me each."

…

...

"Well I wish I had a son like you, you seem so well mannered and probably wouldn't get into as much trouble."

"...I wouldn't...consider me a saint."

"Course no one is, but whatever you are is probably a far cry from what my son gets into. I swear everyday I find out he did some idiotic thing or get into a argument about something stupid. Then he'll call me a bitch, the nerve! you don't treat your mom like that right?"

"No, I'm usually taking care of my mom anyways. She's quite the clutz at times and will forget to take care of herself when she has her hands full."

"Aw~! I wish I had you as a son! Will your mom be willing to trade for a while? Maybe permanently?"

…

"Is your nose bleeding again?"

"No! Uh, I'm sure your son has some love for you if he stayed. If he didn't he must've just up and left," the stingy pain on his face started to decrease. He would sometimes open his eyes for a bit before shutting them again.

"I have no doubt that he does but he really needs to check his attitude before he really hurts someone-"

This would earn her a slight glare from Ken, it makes him question how bad is her son if she's talking about attitude with her explosive personality.

"I keep telling him that if he's aiming to get into that hero course, he's eventually going to need to change his attitude."

"Your son is trying to be a hero?"

"Yeah."

"By any chance is he applying at UA?"

"He never settles for anything less than the best, he has a lot of potential if only he can use it right."

"Hm...I'm glad to hear."

"Hey, hey, you should try out for the entrance exam as well."

"W-what?"

"Well you already came to my aid, even though I didn't need it, it was still brave. How about it slugger, you wanna test out your heroic heart?"

"Actually I was already planning to apply there."

"That's great, the world can use more friendly heroes like yourself. My son if anything will end up a media reject like Endeavor," Mitsuki scoff in aggravation.

…

"Is that wrong though?"

"No not really, Endeavor ain't a bad hero but he's definitely someone who the media won't hesitate to throw him under the bus over any controversy he does. The difference is, if my son get to that status, he'll line their pockets with stories for days and will destroy his own career. Endeavor is professional enough to not let that happen," Mitsuki took a moment to look back as she had finished tending to the wounds.

"Yeah, that's kinda a reason I like him."

"Ara ara, are you an Endeavor fan!?" A smile plastered on her as she inched closer, teasing him by nudging him around, "That explains your tone when you asked that question."

Ken still hung up on his past quickly defended himself, "What! No it's just more, admiration."

Mitsuki would chuckle as she started applying the band-aids to his face, "Well admiration is good, it gives inspiration."

"What if...the inspiration is something many people...question?"

"You shouldn't worry about what others think about what motivates you, people are superficial about a lot of things and you don't need their approval for everything. You just gotta make sure that whatever it is that motivates you, you use it to do good things for society. I'm sure even then other people will accept that part of you."

"Yeah...I guess you're right. If I'm doing something good it doesn't matter what other people think of the motivation I have for it as long as it's pure. Thank you." Ken softly said, he knew he would still have to be careful about how much he reveal about himself. He felt more comfortable with himself that he knew he didn't need to protect that face like it was his social security number, in order to have the life he wants.

After finishing putting the last band-aid over his nose which Ken didn't even flinch at, she would happily cheer, "Ah~! It's been so long since I had a teenager actually listen to my advice, you sure I can't just adopt you?"

One thing Ken always hated was how because of his pale skin, the made his blushes a lot more visible. It was really showing when his cheeks started growing red, this time he didn't have the cover of just being punched in the face. Instinctively to hide his blush he would use his hood to hide a part of his face, telling her, "I-I already have a mom and a home."

Mitsuki continued to tease him, going as far as to grab his hand with both of hers before saying, "But you're so precious and just waiting to be picked up, I'm willing to rent you out for the weekends~."

He could feel his nose beginning to bleed again, "N-no that's not necessary, unfortunately I'm not on the m-market."

"Aw, ok," She would say giving a fake pout, she didn't know that her purposeful teasing was doing more than embarrassing the boy, it was straight up killing him.

It's practically not good for someone in his health condition to be bleeding so often from the nose.

Taking a break from her teasing, she would release him. Packing up her first aid kit and walking to the garbage bin to throw away the wrapper from the band-aid. Ken would keep his eyes fixed on the ground so he wouldn't be tempted to let his eyes follow Mitsuki as she walked away.

The next words she said sounded more like an actual lecture then casual talk, "Anyways motivation and aggression to achieving one's goal is how we as people live on. I know I wouldn't have married the man I did if I wasn't aggressive in pursuing him."

"Oh that's so hot," Ken compulsively whispered under his breath, his will went weak for a moment.

"What?" Mitsuki responded, turning toward him after hearing him say something.

Ken quickly recovered, "Huh? Uh I said, oh that's right. Because I remembered I was doing something before we met."

"Do you need anything I can help with it?"

Ken quickly refused by shaking his head, she already did enough for him for the accident and hopefully the more fantasized things were done unintentionally.

"Hmm." The woman approached the Albino, lifting up his face a bit as she examined it, "That's strange it's bleeding a bit again...I'm going to give you my number."

While at first Ken thought she was joking, he was surprised when he saw the piece of paper in front of him with a number written on it.

"Are you sure about this?" Ken would ask uncertain, he still of course reached for it, but he was feeling uncertain the situation.

Before he could grab it, Mitsuki quickly moved the paper out of his hands, "Don't get carried away, this is for emergencies only! If you start having trouble with your nose or jaw tomorrow you might have to go to the hospital, if you do call me and I'll pay for whatever treatment you need. You know if you try anything else with this number, I'll knock you out quicker than I did those other two guys."

Remembering how violent she got in that street, Ken nodded his head in obedience.

Mitsuki smiled as she handed him the paper and showed him the way to the door, she even gave him a snack to eat on the road.

Once he got outside, she told him, "Shame you couldn't at least meet my son, thought you might've been pushed off by his temper."

"It's fine," Ken said, "Thank you for everything."

"If you are in the area and it rains or some emergency happens you can visit any time." Mitsuki informed him.

Ken would nod as he walked off, feeling more free in his mind after. He took out his phone and began texting Midoriya, he felt like starting a conversation about the latest Endeavor new.

As he went further down the streets he wouldn't see how Mitsuki acted.

With a sigh, she leaned against the door frame, watching the Albino boy walked away. If there was one thing that concerned her about the boy, it was his eyes. At first she passed them off as a teen who don't get enough sleep at night due to playing games, but as the conversation they had went on and she linked his actions together, it was obvious that his eyes told a different story. A case like him can't be ironed out in a day, it will take time to fix, and all she can do at the moment is just give him a window to go to when he needs it.

"You better take care of yourself," She mumbled under her breath, waiting till he was out of sight before going back to her own house.

In another part of the city, under the cover of the night, a gang leader, with a grey metal headpiece that cover his face, would kick one of his men to the ground.

"You worthless pieces of garbage!" he shouted, "You couldn't steal money from one lowly woman!?"

"We're sorry boss, but she caught us off guard." The first man said who was on the ground.

"She hit so hard." The second man mumbled under his breath.

The leader would just look at the second man's direction and like black magic, the second man's right leg would suddenly twist, breaking his ankle.

As the man yelled out in pain, the leader went back to his seat, "And here I thought I was the luckiest man around when I manage to escape that hell hole when the heroes showed up. But no, of course I get the most incompetent men of the group that can't do the simplest task because a woman hit hard!"

The first man, wanting to save his ankles from being broken quickly spoke up, "I promise, we'll round up the other guys and will do something to make up for this."

The leader didn't seem impressed but commanded, "You better, we need something to get our reputation back as the Yellowfang gang."

"No one will get away with messing with us and we'll be sure to make anyone who does pay!"

**TO BE CONTINUE!**

**((Gonna say it now, yes Ken has a crippling attraction to blonde MILFs, I'm ashamed at him as much as you all are, but the man have weaknesses! XD BTW For Those Wondering, We're about 2-3 chapters Away from Ken finally taking the Entrance Exam.**

**Also quick shout out to RoseOfPhantom, she's been a great support to the series and she's too a author whose working on a great OC story that focus more on being emotionally driven. Story name is 'The Emotive Iris', give it a read if you got the time.**

**Hope you enjoyed the story, follow it if it interest you and leave a review on what you thought of the chapter.**

_**Also I got a Ko-fi so you can directly support me there, be sure to check out my youtube channel Hero DarkyDark. Also I got a Discord chat, so if you wanna chat or hang out with the community consider joining, code for it is /XunT8bu ))**_


	6. The Two Sides Of The Coin

**A/N: Hope you guys are excited, we're entering the first part of the two part finale of the beginning arc of this story before we actually get lined up with canon.**

**DISCLAIMER: Boku no Hero Academia is not owned by me but by Kohei Horikoshi, Bones studio, and Shonen Jump. Please support the official series.**

**Chapter 6**

**The Two Sides Of A Coin**

_The Reason I Am Part 5_

_In our minds we're always more vulgar than we are actually in reality. Why is that? Well there's a number of reasons, the most common reason is probably because there's no consequences to what someone thinks. There's no obligation to follow through with it and they don't have to worry about what people will think because it's impossible for anyone to find out._

_A kid can think about saying every swear word in the book to their parent's face while they're being scolded, an unappealing man can think about how much he can swoon the pretty girl sitting next to him at a bus stop, an older woman thinking about having a harem of young men around them, a teacher wanting to slap the daylight out of their annoying students, a cashier wanting to tell a customer to piss off about speaking to the manager, co-workers thinking about having intimate relationships with each other, a company owner wishing their workers can be worked like machine slaves to boost efficiency, a sneaky criminal wanting to be able to act out their crimes in public without having to hide it, or even a random act of violent to a random person on the street just because something they're doing annoys you._

_All things many people think about doing everyday, but no one actually does most of them. Beside a few cases here and there, people enacting on their pure thoughts are a rarity. Usually only consistently done by people who lack mental control of themselves._

_So what does that mean about humanity, are we all secretly evil being that manage to hide it from each other by passing our natural thoughts through a filter called 'Consequence' or the opposite? Are people overall good because we can reject such dark thoughts we want to do so self-consciously everyday cause we know they're wrong? Maybe it's neither? All it could mean is that people are all talk about their capabilities, always talking to themselves about the grand things they think they can do only to never do that._

_Is that what I am, all talk?_

_I say this as I stare at the kids that usually bully me, beat me, and push me down like a lot of things in life does. They were playing in the water on top of a waterfall, completely unaware of the fact that they were only safe because of a poorly built beaver dam nearby. I had examined the dam, it was barely being kept together, something must've drove all the Shikoku beavers away and now the dam was just an abandoned project that just barely does its job of blocking the water way._

_A good kick, even from someone with a defective weak body like mine could break the whole thing down. It doesn't even need to be a kick, throwing a big enough rock could do the trick. As soon as the dam breaks, a tsunami of water will come rushing down, and those kids will be washed away from my life forever._

_No one will know he was the one who did it, not like it was a suspicious circumstance. Children have come to play here often and most people know of the dangers it comes with because of the dam, it probably doesn't help that the kids have a history of vandalizing things. If the dam breaks and the kids drown, no one would think twice about it beside either bad timing or that they messed with something they shouldn't causing their own demise._

_A perfect crime._

_Quite merciful even as they will only suffer for a couple of seconds...maybe minutes at worst before they die. A sign of humanity they don't deserve as it was a courtesy they never showed me._

_I can do it right now, the rock was already in my hand, and it's not like I'm getting rid of good people._

_Yet I can't._

_I looked at these bullies, one of them finally noticed my presence after almost an hour of me standing there. He saw the rock in my hand, his eyes widen as he knew what I can do to it. They were at my total mercy, their lives hung on the balance of me making a decision and I can't even make the choice. Instead I gave the boy a look to let them know that despite the torment they do to me, I wouldn't do such a thing. I dropped the rock in my hand and walked off to go hang out with Mei for the day, may even sleepover there because I now got a feeling that will make me sleep poorly if I slept alone. _

_Like everyone else in the world I'm just all talk._

_Is that why I'm back here, getting beaten by these bullies again just a later in an alleyway._

_Did it even matter to them that they're only alive right now because I didn't want to go through with ending their lives? That I had pity on them despite having no other reasons not to besides a possible guilty conscious that could very well never happen?_

_No, of course they won't._

_Why would they?_

_They're horrible people that do horrible things to others because they have a desire to do so, why would they care about getting a second chance at life when they had already recklessly set themselves up to lose it during their first chance._

_I can give them a hundred chances and they'll still just go back to their usual shenanigans. They will never be appreciative of it, they'll never take advantage of it to live better, the only thing they'll do is use it as extra life to continue where they left off._

_This is no different than a villain, they're not different from a villain._

_End of Part 5_

"You're so villainous Kano," A teasing Mei said to her childhood friend, "Having such amorous thoughts as you associate yourself with an older woman...a married older woman at that."

"S-shut up!" An embarrassed Ken stammered, he quickly decline his voice to a murmur, "It's not like I can help it, she was literally every weakness of mine a woman can have."

"By the sound of it, you didn't resist much going to her home."

"That was because she had an iron grip on my arm, that woman...mmh, she definitely got a nice arm on that body."

Mei couldn't help but chuckle, "Let's calm down before you start drooling in public."

She was right, they were in public, at a cafe to be specific. Once in a blue moon; Ken can convince Mei to leave her workshop to spend time together outside like normal friends. The patio they had outside was quite comfortable to be in, it allowed them to breathe in fresh air and Ken didn't have to worry about the sun during the daytime for once because they stationed an umbrella there. Ken ordered a soft-drink mix of pink lemonade and Kiwi, while Mei ordered a simple hot chocolate.

Luckily Ken snapped himself out of his daydream caused by the previous conversation, he didn't want to draw attention to him. That would defeat the purpose of him choosing to sit outside. If he had sat inside; people would've had more incentive to look at him and see how badly he sticks out. This is one of those more cutesy cafes so seeing someone with such a grim appearance square in the middle of such a place will be off setting to some. No one ever said anything but he knows they're thinking about it, he can tell by their stares.

It was something his anxiety couldn't handle, he can barely handle a handful of people looking at him at once. If he was outside, while he still looked a bit out of place in front of the cafe, he wouldn't have to deal with constant stares. Everyone outside of the store are off doing their own business for the day, too busy to stop randomly on the streets to look at some vampire looking kid sipping lemonade. Maybe he'll get a stare here and there but they'll be gone as soon as they come. That was manageable, though only when he had someone else to help him blend in and distract himself from the surroundings around him.

Thank goodness Mei didn't mind coming here, it's only with her does he ever come around a place like this. This is one of the few places that properly mix his drink the way he wants the best without making it awkward.

Ken took a sip from his cup, "Anyways it's not like I'm really doing anything bad, sure I have a lot of…explicit thoughts while I'm around her but I'm not doing activities with her for some scumbaggy intention."

"I don't know~," Mei replied with a hint of sneering in her voice, "The first week you met her you went to see her 5 times."

"For my nose!"

"Then you should really go to the hospital?"

"N-no no, I'm good! It seems unnecessary to deal with all those medical bills for a small thing."

"Wait, aren't you on my families' health care plan? Why would you-"

Ken quickly interrupts her, "It's an equal trade anyways, she helps take care of my nose and I'll help around the house."

"Don't she have a husband and a son that can do that?" Mei questioned.

Just hearing that made Ken have a slight look of distaste on his face, he grunted a mumble, "Yeah, she does. Ugh, and he's happy he finally have someone to help him retile the roof. _They're... VERY...happily married right now_."

His tone reeked of disappointment, hatred, and jealousy.

"You said that so begrudgingly," Mei pointed out, "I haven't seen that amount of grief saying something then when I had to tell my baby, that I made for a school project, that I had to deactivate them because they were deemed too dangerous to leave active."

"Oh no no no," Ken spoke up, "We finally get out of your workshop and now you still wanna talk about your hobby? Nope, not happening."

Mei quickly protested "Ey that's not fair! We talk about your love life and escapades constantly and we're not taking a break from that."

"Well that's because this is what _normal_ teenagers talk about, not the inner workings of how torque can affect a process controller. Seriously I basically got a college level of engineering knowledge I don't know what to do with from listening to you go on for hours," Ken grunted, he recalled an occasion where he forgot his phone at home one time when he went out for a run and upon returning he had gotten over 70 messages from Mei.

Now a normal man would just skip through it all or pretend like they read it, but the strange sadistic relationship they have won't allow him to just disregard her messages when there's the slightest chance she might've sent an emergency message.

There wasn't an emergency, but he did now know the many applications a PLC can have in the modern world.

Most can tell why for once he didn't want to hear about it any longer then he has to.

Knowing how stubborn he can be Mei conceded this time, pouting as she drank the warm hot chocolate, "At least you can use that on a college application," she muttered.

A small ball of guilt burned in the pale boy's stomach, he stuck out his hand with an open palm as he sighed, "You got 20 minutes, go nuts you _salted_….."

The last couple of words was lost under his breath.

Mei's face lit up like a child being given a stick of cotton candy, she immediately went on a seminar about what she found out she can do to create some kind of jet boots invention. It was ridiculous to hear but he was used to this kind of hair brained idea spouting from the pinkette. It wasn't the first time she went on a random tirade about creating something high tech using scraps and very few times does she actually go through with it. Who knows what'll come out of this?

Not like it matters what they talk about, sometimes it was better to compromise for a better experience overall. He had his favorite drink to enjoy anyways.

10 minutes in and Mei didn't even seem like she was close to finishing, he might have to allow her an extension on her time limit. It'll be better for her to finish it now and get it all out of her system or else she'll be unable to pay attention to the future topics. It'll be pointless talking if she doesn't engage in the conversation, he doesn't like to hear himself talk that often.

Partially listening while he enjoyed the sweet mixed drink, the albino boy took a moment to gaze at the surrounding area. He would've gone on an internal monologue about how much of a lazy this was, but then he saw something that literally made him spit his drink.

Oblivious as always Mei responded with laughter, "Ha see, that's how the mechanic responded when I told him-"

"No not that!" Ken hissed at her, he jerked his head to the side to signal that it was something behind her, "The girl, the girl!"

Confusion quickly ran through the young mechanic's head, slowly repeating words as she thoughtlessly turned her head to see what he was referring to, "The...girl?"

Ken hopped out of his chair, preventing Mei from looking back with his hand, "Don't look back it'll draw attention," he whispered to her.

His voice was completely off. This was strange, despite his attitude and how he presents himself to others, Ken obviously have a wide variety of emotions that he expresses at different times and situations. But no matter what it may be, whether it's him bumbling like an idiot because an attractive older woman is dragging him around town, embarrassment from his guilty pleasure favorite being exposed, aggravated from the shenanigans from his childhood friend, or even when he's for once not being moody his voice always have this consistent voice that never breaks. Crack? Maybe a few times have Ken voice cracked but that was more of a natural body thing then a reaction to something.

Mei recognized this voice, she have only heard this voice a few times in her. It was something developed quite recently and could only signal one thing; his ex-girlfriend. Only his EXs can break his collective front just from a glance. The only question left now to her was 'Which one was it?'

One was just an experience that ended badly, the other was something that broke the guy.

As three figures crept in through the corner of her eye, Mei directed her eyes to the side to see which it was.

It was...neither. It was actually a girl she had never seen before, she had pink hair just like her yet instead of dreads her's was more fuzzy; they match her pink skin and fashionable clothing.

"What's so important about this girl again? She isn't S-"

"She's some girl I accidentally fell on," Ken whispered, he was trying his best to hide his face with his hand.

"I don't see how that's a problem," Mei calmly respond, not really questioning how it happened but more of what was he getting so worked up over it.

"It's embarrassing!" Ken hissed again, his volume was a bit high so he took a quick glance to the group of girls that just had to stop moving in front of the store to talk. She seemed to be more focused on each other then some random alibno kid talking to a pink haired girl wearing cyberpunk goggles, that didn't stop him from bringing himself down to a whisper, "She might recognize me!"

"That was over a month ago, I don't think she's going to remember some random guy she bumped into on the streets," Mei stated, she wasn't even trying to hide the fact that she was looking at the girls.

Ken was so distracted trying to make himself stick out less that he didn't even realize how they stuck out more now then if they were to regular look at the girls together, "How are you sure? You know how my appearance usually strike people!"

"Pretty sure she'll be more rememberiable to anything then you are considering how her appearance sticks out way more like most people with mutation quirks. You only really strike people when they bump into you at the dead of night, every other time of the day and it's probably just a spooky occurrence than anything memorable. Like a mediocre haunted house, you've already seen everything they'll have so no one is gonna bother remembering what specifically was in there the next week."

"...Wow, thanks for the ...words of assurance."

"No problem, you're always comforting me with my dilemmas."

…

Sometimes Ken forgets that Mei's obliviousness can make her not get sarcasm and other social cues that involve not saying exactly what you mean.

"Well anyways I'm weird, it's hard to interact with things that have embarrassing memories. I once slipped fell flat on my ass at a convenience store near my house and I've never gone back to buy even a candy bar!" Ken explained.

"That sounds extremely unnecessary."

"Yeah well bite me I'm not changing soon."

"You might have to, they're moving this way."

"What!?"

"Excuse me?" An extremely cheery and upbeat voice called out to the pair.

On instinct Ken turned his head so he was facing the table, trying to make it look like he was doing that the entire time. The voice made his chest heavy, like looming claw of fear had grabbed him freezing him still, this was definitely the same girl. Judging from how close the shadow the group was casting, they've been no further then 3 feet away from him. A cold sweat broke dripped down against his pale skin, he was pressured to not look up and face the girl.

A bundle of crazy thoughts ran through his mind, '_She's so close, she might recognize me, she's going to recognize me! Why today of all days!? What is she even doing in this area!? This is miles away from where I last saw here, did she come through entire towns just to torture me. Or did she come here for revenge and she took our encounter way too personally. She probably been waiting for this day, spending weeks just to hunt down and find a way to corner me so that she can dig into me publically!'_

As always they were unreasonable since he was in a panic.

His eyes slowly dragged up to look at his friend for some sort of guidance, his eyes bulged out of his eye as he saw Mei was already engaging the girls. Not just by facing them, but turning her entire body posture to face them.

'_Oh god Mei what are you going to do!?' _Ken thought to himself, he knew Mei can have worst social interactions then him but bite down on his nails because he was too scared to talk.

"Hey what you guys needs?" Mei asked them kindly.

The pink skinned girl stepped from the group holding out her phone, she asked, "Sorry to bother you but can one of you take a picture of us standing in front of the cute pet store across the street."

'That was it!?' Ken thought, both relieved but depressed that she wasn't approaching them because she recognized him. It reminded him of how no matter what he does, his presence barely ever leaves a mark on people except as a jumpscare at night. Compare that to this girl who's just by her voice had ingrained her presence into this boy's mind that was perfectly normal to happen.

He looked up to get an image of her face, he didn't stay around long enough last time to get a good look, and now he realized what he missed. Ken knew it was a bit hypocritical to think this considering his own issues with how his appearance affect others, but he's a bit shallow when it comes to the relationship between what how he finds a woman attractive and physical appearance. Long story short, he liked girls that looked good to him and this girl did not disappoint. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, besides his weaknesses, everytime he found a girl attractive it was for a different reason and sometimes it'll take a while for him to find out why.

By this point Mei happily agreed to the pink girl's request, accepting the phone into her hands. While she stood up, she took a single moment to look back at Ken and smile warmly toward him.

It wasn't a teasing one, or a smug one, or even one that indicated any kind of devious intention. That was when it hit him that she was purposely drawing the conversation toward her to save Ken from the embarrassment,

Tears were held back as Ken gave Mei a thousand thanks in his mind, 'I love you so much Mei, I promise to not hit you so much whenever you go on random gush sessions about technology.'

"Oh this is that new phone that came out a few months ago right?" Mei had asked after taking a closer look at the phone she received.

The girl may have had black eyes but they light up like any person who found someone with a common interest, "Yeah, I love the desi-"

"I fucking hate that model!" Mei exclaimed loudly, "Stupid soulless machine, they didn't even improve anything from the last model!"

…

The girls looked shocked, a bit freaked out from the sudden outburst.

Ken was having a mental meltdown, 'What are you doing!?'

He had forgotten that Mei despite her quite open and optimistic view on inventions she can be quite...aggressively political about certain brands for lacking the heart and soul of inventing. She would literally rant for hours about this stuff, he would know as he made the mistake of asking her opinion about what new phone to buy on a long school trip drive. She just really hates the phone industry.

"Name one actual innovative thing they tried to do," Mei continued.

'Oh god please, shut up, shut up, shut up,' Ken prayed in his head, this was quite literally killing him. His past was one of many uncertainties. He has been beaten senseless by bullies before, survived a terrible relationship with an Ex, and has been illegally helping some random shady person he met on the street be a vigilante who do stuff from stopping villains, who have bonafide superpowers by the way, to investigating murderers for a few shorts years. But this was the closest he felt like he was going to die.

"Don't even get me started on durability!"

At that point Ken had snatched the phone out of Mei's hand, he might've passed out if the rant went on any longer. He heard of how powerful words can be on a person but he didn't take it this literally, he hopes no future opponent of his will use his weak heart to embarrassment as a weapon against him.

He had to salvage this situation the best he can, this was not going to be another place he'll never return to. No place else can get the lemon to kiwi ratio just right!

Too much damage had already been done...to Ken's self conscious. His face was basically glued toward the ground, no willpower in his heart will allow him to be able to face three people at once after all of what happened. The fact they were girls were just overkill.

Luckily all the secretly sneaking around with Free Destin have made Ken excel in pretending like he was doing something for one reason when it was actually another to blend in with his awkwardness.

That was how he managed to get a girlfriend in the first place…..well one of them.

He made it look like he was just looking down on the phone getting it to the camera mode, keep their mind off the mind by quickly apologizing, "Sorry about her, she's a...real connoisseur about phones."

Mei sneered at the comment grumbling, "Tch, as if I'll waste my time. Differentiating between each version takes 5 minutes anyways."

'Good god woman, hold on your critiques!' Ken thought, the more she spoke the more he sweat but he had to keep his cool, "A~nyways, you girls ready?"

'Don't make eye contact or you'll break! Don't make eye contact or you'll break!'

It was hard to tell what was going through the girl's head, he couldn't look at them yet while they were so close but his little act seemed to have worked as he heard the words, "Yeah sure, let's get in position."

'Oh thank god saved it.'

Hearing the footsteps walking away from him he finally was able to look up, the girl was cheerfully crossing the street to get to the pet store. Ken took the chance to look at Mei, sticking his arms in a gestured about what she did a few seconds ago.

"Sorry, I got lost going on a tangent." She replied shrugging her shoulders.

"You and your freaking obsessions, it actually mattered."

"It's freaking criminal how the phone industry rob-"

"Don't wanna hear it," Ken interrupted, as he walked away, he left Mei in an aggravated pouty state. There was nothing to worry about as she's gotten like this before, she'll cross her arms, puff up her cheek, and mumble about something for a bit before getting over it.

In all honestly that was her more controllable state, all he ever had to do was not pay attention and zone off.

Which probably wasn't the smartest decision to do as you're looking down at a phone while walking across the street. That's why he didn't see the car coming.

"Kano, a car is coming!" Mei shouted, but her voice was already drowned out in Ken's mind as another part of her tantrums.

The two other girls from the group tried to warn him as well.

"The Witcher pay attention!

"Yeah a car is coming Near!"

It would take him hearing an angelic voice to pull him out of the trance he was in.

"Watch out, Vampire guy!" The pink skinned girl shouted.

That'll have to do.

Maybe a bit late as the car was barely a few feet away from him, driving at full speed. He barely had time to look up to see the car and for a moment he thought this was it. This was where his story would suddenly, tragically, dramatically, and to the people who read his life like it was some book being told, anti-climatically considering his mindset and goals.

Few thoughts ran through his head, like questioning if his mom will be ok and how that'll depend if she gets the news drunk or not. If Mei's family put life insurance on him because if they did then Mei could at least finally be able to afford building that rocketjet she's been bugging me about. If his mentor Free Destin was gonna replace him with another angsty teenager as a sidekick. How he didn't say 'fuck you' to his brother one last time? Would his Exs laugh at him dying or be sad? What kind of name is Kano anyways? Why is he always so dramatic over everything? How come he can think so many thoughts in the manner of a second?

The headlight of the car shined like the doors of heaven calling to him.

Then he remembered that he had Flash Step and in a discreet way back stepped out of the way in half a second. He really makes things way more dramatic than he should.

He just watched like a deer in the headlights as the car skeeted by him, the girls was just staring back cause they don't know what happened or how he dodged, and Mei was just happy she didn't witness her friend getting run over. His body was weak as it was, sure the chances of surviving getting hit by a car wasn't 0 but his own was much less than a normal person.

...

"Alright so are you girls ready?" Ken calmly say to break the ice, the less attention he gave what could've happened, the better it'll be. On the bright side, the occasion probably made everyone forget Mei's embarrassing rant.

The picture went fine with very little happening, the girls had fun doing many different poses in front of the store, and Ken made sure to take his time taking each picture. Today was a good day he picked to wear jeans.

"Thank you," The pink skinned girl said as Ken returned her phone.

Keeping a good distance away from them Ken just mumbled, "It was nothing, have a nice day."

With the girls taking their leave Ken let out a sigh of relief, he managed to save the situation. Then with the girls being farther away, the pink skinned one shouted something that almost gave Ken a heart attack, "Oh sorry again for interrupting your date."

Mei was unmoved from this, Ken on the other hand had his entire face turned red and it really showed on his pale skin.

"What!? W-we're not dating!" He exclaimed, this wasn't the first time this had happened, this only hits him this hard when someone he finds attractive says it. His usually reaction is one of disgust.

But it was too late as the girls were already gone.

"They went away a while ago," Mei explained as she walked up to him, "You spent like 5 minutes babbling."

"Cause she said we were on a date, this always happens whenever we hung out together. It's like everyone just wants us together every time we interact."

"Well to be fair we did go to a romantic cafe."

"We went to a what!?"

"Romantic Cafe, yeah my parents sometimes go here for small time dates."

"And you never told me, I've taken you here so many times!"

"I thought you knew, I was assuming you did it because you were too embarrassed to go here by yourself and getting stares for being a single pringle."

"I mean you're half right!"

"Wait why should I be the one to inform you, you're the one who keeps taking me here? How did you not know what this place was?"

"I never went inside!"

"Never went inside?"

"Yeah, I just always sat outside and waited for someone to take my order."

"The menu are so decorated with hearts."

"I thought that was them trying to be cute!"

"You really gotta do something about your anxiety and pay attention more."

"Oh, like you're the one to talk about getting a clue, bite me!"

"No, that's what you usually do to me."

"Oh god, don't even remind me of that issue. Gotta iron that out before I go to UA or else I'm going to have a lot of problems."

"Oh yeah, I still got the bite marks on my-"

"I said don't remind me!"

After an awkward goodbye and a mental note of another place he can never return to, Ken walked back with Mei back till they left the more busy part of the city and entered into the urban parts before going their separate ways. Ken had taken the day off from training because Mei actually agreed to go out somewhere for once, but that doesn't mean he had to do absolutely nothing for the entire day. Besides from his neck training and other bodily training a regular jog for once won't kill him.

It felt nice going a couple of miles without doing acrobatics everywhere, he had to get used to going more than 20 feet without jumping into the air randomly.

"Oh Ken is that you?" he heard a voice call out to him.

When he turned he saw it was Mitsuki calling out to him, she was with another blonde woman as well. They both were wearing similar clothing, colors…and body type.

'_God almighty thank you for giving me two of them but please let this one be single.'_ he thought as he had his hands together in prayer.

"What are you doing?" Mitsuki asked him, wondering why was the boy was standing in the middle of the street with his eyes closed.

'_I really need to learn to be normal,'_ Ken thought, quickly changing the subject he asked, "Uh, who were you with Mrs.B? Was she your sister?"

"Oh that's Melissa, a work friend," Mitsuki answered as the two walked down the street.

'_Damn.'_

"Today was twin day there and we agreed to since people already say we're really similar. She even had only one kid just like me."

'_Damn!'_ "Happy to hear she's happily married," Ken stated through gritted teeth.

"Oh no not happy. She used to be married to this David guy but he went like mad so she ditched him," Mistuki rolled her eyes thinking about it.

'_Oh yes thank you god!'_

"And I wouldn't be messing with her, she can be a cold heart bit- uhh, I mean person. I can understand having marriage problems but she completely bailed on him and her daughter to move from america."

'_That still means she's single.'_ "That's a real shame, she must be lonely," Ken says dearly, but in reality he was grinning to himself.

"No I heard she's real interested in this guy from prison. Wait, I'm not sure if it's from Prison or if he recently got out of it."

'DAMN IT!' "Oh…" Ken sniffed a but, swallowing a bit of his pride, "At least that's something."

"Yeah that's quite some trade, she got a nice prison boyfriend or she only had to give up the father of her daughter. Probably best that way, it'll be awful for a kid to deal with a father who's in jail," Mitsuki mumbled, obviously disapproving of the action the mother had taken, "Oh I'm sorry, I shouldn't be bragging about other people's lives then our own. That reminds me, I never asked if you knew what your father do for a living?"

"He's currently in prison," Ken calmly stated without batting an eye.

...

Mitsuki stayed silent for a while before thinking, 'Jesus christ kid I was right, I wonder what didn't go wrong in your life.'

Wanting to change the conversation very quickly she asked, "Wanna help me get some groceries?"

And that's exactly what they did together as they chatted, just some regular everyday activity. The store trip was nothing special, Mistuki did all the actual shopping, Ken just pushed around the cart. With their appearances, they just seemed like an angsty teenager pushing the cart because he was forced to come here his mother.

When another customer in the store commented on this Mitsuki told him, "She isn't wrong, you're pushing that cart just like Katsuki does."

"Who?" Ken asked, this wasn't because Mitsuki never mentioned her own son's name. It was simply that Ken never bothers remembering his name because it's a constant reminder that she had a son he has never met…and a husband, y'know a family. It was only begrudgingly that he remembers her husband's first name just so he can just really passive aggressively in private.

"My son, he's always so moody when I make him come with me," Mitsuki explained to him again, "Damn brat, acting like I'm forcing him to carry the world on his back. I'm paying for it and I cook it, all he does is eat so why can't he help push a cart. Or doing the dishes!"

"It's not that hard," Ken grumbled, 'I actually had to do all those things whenever my mom forgets to.'

"Exactly!" Mitsuki exclaimed.

This conversation continued even outside the store and the rest of the way home. Her home specifically and of course Ken helped carry the groceries inside.

"Oh I think Masaru will be home early today, I can make his favorite meal." Mitsuki thought out loud to herself.

"Ugh, right..._Masaru_," Ken growled, '_Oh I hate him, last week when he told me to have a nice day I wanted to smack the glasses off his face. Who does he think he's talking to!?'_

"If you like, you can stay for a bit and get something to eat," Mitsuki offered

"No I already ate with a friend," Ken responded as he set the bags down on the table, 'Luckily drinks with Mei helped me so I won't have to eat with that beta who got lucky he was born early.'

'You sure not for a bite?" Mitsuki insisted, "You're doing a lot of exercise training for the entrance exam, you're gonna need a lot of calories or else you'll run your body drain. So eat some more."

'Didn't the doctor say something about my eating habits? Meh, doubt it's important,' Ken thought it over, "No I'm sure, I should be going soon anyways."

Mitsuki was trying to be kind to her approach, but little did she know if she just ordered him to do so, he would in a second and will even give a 'yes ma'am!' to go with it.

The ringing sound of the house phone stop the older blonde from persisting any further.

"One moment," She announced before going to answer it.

Her mentioning training did make Ken think, '_I've almost met the criteria for Free's latest challenge, it shouldn't take me longer then a week. I wonder what he has instore for me after, he did promise to start teaching me starting new. Hopefully it'll be something more combat based, I don't think a villain is gonna faint at seeing how fancy of a wall jump I can do. I've already missed so many nights of viglanting just for this crap, that's a shit load of crinimals I missed out on stopping. It makes me wonder exactly what I'm missing out on.'_

That was when he suddenly heard Mitsuki shout, "What!?"

In another part of the city Free Destin was interrogating someone in the darkness of alleyway. He had lifted the man off his feet, holding him up against the wall.

"I'm going to give you one last chance," Free Destin spoke in his usually monotone but stern voice, "Where are the dolphins? I know what you guys hide in them!"

"I promise you, I'm just the transport guy! They pay me 100,000 Yen a week to just drive the truck twice a week and ask no questions." The man being interrogated told him, he was doing his best to cover his face with his hands incase this strange person decide to be more physical with his methods.

"And that didn't aroush any suspicious at all?" Free asked him.

"I'm a Ex-con, who would deny a deal like that in my shoes."

Free didn't respond as he stared down the man, as he release his grip from the man he states, "Ok I believe you, now tell me what you do know."

After a quick interrogation, Free was calmly walking away from the man. He had gotten what he needed, addresses and time schedules that match up with his investigation. The only question he had in his head was rather if he should give this information to the police through a hidden tip or take care of it himself. He'll have to see how deep this operation goes to decide.

It was within this thought process he realized he forgot to do something. He turned around and walked back to the man who had just recovered from getting questioned.

The man tighten up again seeing Free walking back to him, "Come on man, I told you everything I know!"

The man was more surprised to see that Free was just holding out a card.

"What's this?" The man asked, slowly taking it.

"It's a chicken farmer I know who owes me a favor, he just got off some issues recently and could use some help around the farm; Mostly transporting his stock," Free explained to him, "Consider it a thank you for being cooperative and honest or an apology because I'm going to put you out of this job in a few days. At least this one is legal, keep it that way."

Without another word Free left the man alone, roaming the streets casually.

'_Another weird case,'_ Free thought to himself, '_Why those poor dolphins?'_

_**UPDATE ON BREAKING NEWS!**_

Free decided to take a break from his little investigation to hear the news, while he doesn't often interfere with anything the police and/or heroes are heavily involved in for the sake of keeping a low profile, he does like to keep tabs on such things incase something noteworthy comes up. It wouldn't be the first time something he was looking into ended up being connected to some cases the police have been investigating and vice-versa.

_**THE POLICE STAND-OFF BETWEEN THE REMAINING YELLOWFANG MEMBERS IS STILL GOING ON.**_

'_Seems like it was a good choice to leave it to them after all,'_ Free thought to himself, more than ever did he considered chasing after the few that escaped since he knew that Ken would be too busy with training then to come along.

_**THE POLICE ARE HAVING A HARD TIME, BEING PINNED DOWN BY THE GROUP AND ONLY THE HERO DEATHARMS IS ON THE SCENE TO HELP THE POLICE BREAK THE DEADLOCK BUT TO LITTLE HELP. WE MANAGE TO QUESTION ONE OF THE POLICE AND THEY'VE STATED THAT THEY'RE FEARFUL OF A FRONTAL RAID IN FEAR OF THE HOSTAGE THEY HAVE INSIDE. SO FAR THEY'RE WORKING ON SURROUNDING THE BUILDING AND TRAPPING THEM INSIDE TILL MORE HEROES CAN HIT THE SCENE!**_

Free seemed to be fine with this situation, '_I hope the hostage get out ok but the situation should be fine. I've run into the YellowFang group before, they have some dangerous members but most of which was captured during the first standoff and the few I know of that weren't captured aren't the best the group had. There's only about one notable person who escaped that I have concern about but that's only because I just didn't have much information about to know what he can do. All I know is that his codename is Omen and that he's the guy the group usually send if they want an accident to happen somewhere. He must be pretty good if that's his job and so little information can be found on him.'_

It was times like these that Free is thankful that he's not obsessed or radical enough to want to chase down every case that comes his way. Chasing this group down could've been extremely unsafe if he had brung Ken along with him, he's use to danger but whenever he's with Ken he likes to make sure the situation is as in his control as possible to ensure little actual risk to Ken's life. Having him just be around some guy with an assassin style that not even he can get any idea about would be a great way for getting an overly dedicated teenage to possibly die.

Free knew how Ken's tendencies can quite dangerous and should be handled by professionals.

That's why even the stoic Free almost screamed when he saw a boy wearing the specially made hoodie he gave Ken on Tv, slowly making his way in the crowd. Most people wouldn't have noticed it since the focus was on building the stand off is taking place in, but at the very corner of the screen, the sharp collective eye of Free caught him.

What in god's name was he doing there, what could've been the reason that not only will he disobey Free's orders to not being allowed to do anymore vigilante actions till after he completes his challenges but to engage himself with a popular situation that the police are heavily involved in it.

Inside the damaged and falling apart building the YellowFang group was holed up in, the current leader of them was not having a good day.

"You guys are worthless," Was all Omen had to say, "Straight human garbage."

As the tall slender man wearing a bright white suit held his foot on top of one of his grunt's head, he glared down at them. He was no longer angry, just tired and disappointed. He ran his hand through his straight blue hair as he sighed.

One of his grunts tried to speak, "Boss, we're sor-"

"No, not even a single word," Omen interrupted him, "I don't want to hear anything from the people who, not only did so horrible kidnapping a single woman that now we got the police on us again, but you even manage to get the wrong woman!?"

Omen looks to the side of the room, seeing the tied up and blindfolded blonde woman in the corner. He walks up to her and took off her blindfold and gag. With them gone Omen can see the face of the frightening Melissa looking at him, she let out tiny yelps of confused fear as soon as she could. She could see his face so clearly, his blue blues eyes glaring at him, and two blue face markings.

"Calm down, what's your name?" Omen calmly asked her.

"M-melissa Sword," Melissa frighteningly answers.

Without another word Omen puts her blindfold and gag back on, he turned around to his surbornates, "You gone and frighten the shit out of Melissa by capturing her instead of whoever the fuck beat you guys up and if you say it's because she hits you so hard that it made you forget her face I'm breaking both your legs this time!"

The grunts were smart to keep their mouths shut this time.

Just in time to hear the door slowly creep open and Ken was standing in his doorway, wearing the new black color vigilante costume Free has recently given him.

"And where the fuck did this kid come from, you guys can somehow keep the police out for now but couldn't stop a kid from getting in," Omen scolded his men, he had enough for today, "Tie him up, we might be able to get out of this if we have enough hostages."

Without question his men got up and began to approach Ken to apprehend him.

"Don't give us any trouble kid," One of them told him as they reached toward the young teen.

Ken was unresponsive to them, staring at them with eyes that were different then how they usually are. These eyes were sharp and cold, as if some heartless being was standing before them. Right before one of their hands touched him, he reached behind him to pull out a jagged edge hunting knife, and quickly slashed down the shoulder of one of the grunts. As the first man falls back as blood splattered from his gashing wound, seeing this the other grunt throws a punch to the young kid, knowing that he's actual danger to people's lives, but Ken ducked under it before sticking the knife right into the side of his body. Staggered the second grunt stepped back, letting out a piercing yell over being stabbed. Ken had taken the chance to pick up a brick off the ground and smashed it into the face of the grunt to knock him out.

His eyes didn't batter for a second, there was no need for it. They were villains, whatever happens to them in just.

As the teen stepped on by the first grunt who was rolling around on the floor in pain; trying his best to stop his blood and over to the unconscious body of the second grunt, he spoke in a calm but cold voice, "Y'know, one thing I always hate about villains like you is that you never stop while you're ahead."

He stood over the body before crouching out, grabbing the hilt of the blade and pulling it out. A bit of blood squirted out from the wound.

"You guys somehow manage to escape being surrounded by at least half a dozen heroes and what do you do with it? Do you take the chance to be an upstanding citizen after surviving a certain defeat scenario? No. Do you take the time to fuck off to some other country to bother them with your shit? No. Do you at least lower the severity of the crime you do considering how you're extremely wanted man? No. You decided to do this and terrorize more people!"

Despite seeing two of his men being taken down quickly Omen didn't seem angered by this. He calmly walked over to his chair to grab his grey headgear off of it. Turning toward the kid to ask, "You seem to like talking about shit that no one care about kids," he gives him a small, showing that he was more amused by this. Whether it was because he was happy to see the grunts that screwed up so bad get brutalized or because he found it funny that a kid was talking to him like some kind of lawyer was up for grabs, "So what, bad people do bad things constantly. What you gonna do about it?"

Ken slowly stepped forward, holding up the bloodied knife up, "Simple, I'm here to end it."

"End it?" Omen repeated with a chuckle.

"You think that's an empty threat?" Ken asked.

"No, I can already see that it's not empty. Just humorous to hear, makes me wonder if you know who you're going against," Omen responded, putting on the headgear over his head and a blue vizor screened over his eyes.

The closer he got the heavier Ken's chest felt, it's been a while since he has felt like this. Where he feels like he can truly go all out with his feelings, it was a thrilling sensation "If you're a filthy villain I don't care what you are. Be it a man, woman, child, or animal I will take you down without a second thought. And you sir have already made your choice even after a second chance."

"Fuck it, why not I'll play with you. This situation has already gone to shit so it's not like I have much to lose but if I kick your ass, I can turn this situation around for me. So let me ask you something kid?" Omen stated, taking one step forward, "You feeling lucky?"

Almost as soon an Omen took that step Ken heard a crack noise coming from above, he quickly looked up to see that a chunk of the ceiling that was above had suddenly broke off and was falling down onto him.

He only had a moment to dodge by rolling to the side.

"Luck?" Ken mumbled under his breath as he stood back up to take a fighting stance. He lifted his face to show the blood on his face, some being from the two grunts he stabbed and cut, and the other being from the scratch on the side of his face he got from the rubble falling. The cut stung but it didn't deter him, it only motivated him as he remember this pain. The mask covering his face hide it, but underneath it he was grinning as he spoke loud and clear, "I stopped relying on good luck since I was a kid."

_The Reason I Am Part 6_

_I watched as the bullies were now running away from me in fear, for once they had the face of uncertainty that I did whenever they picked on me. It felt great._

_Seeing the tears in their eyes, holding their bleeding arms as they tried to get away. It was a feeling that topped tasting even the finest of meal. Seeing people who deserve it suffer. That should be how the world works, not the opposite. Guess that was my fault for relying on the world to do what I wanted._

_No one will know about my presence and how I'm suffering constantly. So why am I waiting around as if someone suddenly would?_

That's why I calmly followed them as they stupidly ended up running deeper into the alley. The broken bottle still clutched in my hand, the red liquid oozing down it. Despite my body being covered head to toe in bruises, I couldn't help but smile as I finally found a solution to the problem.

_Nothing ever stops unless you end it._

_That was my mistake, I know that now._

_And I have no intention of repeating it._

_End of Part 6._

**((Well then, this chapter went from 0 to 100 real quick XD. Though in all honesty was this ending that surprising to you guys!? Like come on it was in the title, tell me you weren't expecting some Psycho/Socialpathic tendencies from the guy!?**

**Hope you enjoyed the story, follow it if it interest you and leave a review on what you thought of the chapter.**

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